Precision You Can Feel.. more about our tools!!

If you’ve ever worked with linoleum, you know it’s got moods.

Spirit Flowage keyline

Some days it’s smooth and cooperative, the Flexcut gouge just glides. Other days it’s like carving through frozen bread. In the winter, my studio can pretty cold, especially if I’m watching my heating bill.

If it’s like that, good chance the lino could starts to crumble. But when I have the temperature’s right, the sunlight hits the bench just so, and my Flexcut blade is freshly stropped that’s when the real magic happens.

I think about carving the Here Come The Mummies poster, that one was a ride.

It was the first time working with them and I wanted Every swirl of their funky energy to come through in the linework. Those tiny wrappings around the mummies face and the brick work on the pyramid early drove me mad. I remember sitting there early morning, music low, the studio lit only by my carving lamp, pulling perfect curls of lino off the block one by one. You could feel the rhythm of the band in every cut, funky, precise, a little mischievous. By the time I rolled on that first layer of ink, I swear the print was already dancing.

That’s what I love about these tools. Flexcut tools don’t fight you; they move with you, like a good groove that carries any song along. Each shaving that lands on the table or floor in my case, feels like progress. When the press gets inked finally and the spinning cylinder sound fills the air, it’s pure satisfaction.

Carving’s more than a craft, it’s my heartbeat, a meditation, a jam session between tool, hand, and surface.

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