Photopolymer Printmaking Workshop

Tired of lino?Edinburgh has no shortage of lino printing classes, and they're lovely — but if you've done one, you'll remember the part where your hand cramped, the cutter slipped, and the fine line you wanted became a thick one you didn't.Photopolymer skips all of that.Instead of carving your image out by hand, you draw it, and light does the cutting. Your design is exposed onto a light-sensitive resin plate under UV; the exposed areas harden, the rest washes away in water, and the image rises out of the plate in front of you. It takes minutes. And because nothing is being carved, the plate holds detail a blade simply can't — thin lines, texture, handwriting, stippling, the wobble in your own pen.Then it's back to something very old. You ink the plate by hand, lay the paper, press, and peel. The result is a proper relief print: raised, tactile, slightly imperfect, unmistakably printed rather than copied.How the session runs:

• A short introduction to relief printing
• Drawing your design, with help if you want it
• Exposing your plate under UV
• Washing and developing
• Inking, registering, and hand-printing your edition
• Tea, and everyone's prints laid out together

If you've printed before, this will feel like being handed better tools. If you never have, you get to make a detailed, professional-looking print on your first attempt, without spending three hours holding a gouge.One thing this isn't: it's not cyanotype or sun printing. Those capture a photographic image directly onto paper. Here, light builds a printing surface, which you ink and press yourself. It's much closer to the woodblock than to the darkroom.No experience needed, and no drawing ability either — photopolymer loves simple, confident marks. Groups are capped at 10.

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Save £12 when you book with a friend

You'll take home a hand-printed edition of your own design — several prints on quality paper, plus your photopolymer plate, so you can keep printing at home if you catch the bug.All materials, tools, aprons, inks and tea are provided. Just bring yourself and an idea, or no idea at all. Read more details