Participants gathered at the AIGA/NY Handmade at Etsy workshop held at the whimsical Etsy Headquarters in Brooklyn, NY on November 18, 2010. The sold-out event was organized by the AIGA/NY Community Committee to get the AIGA/NY community together to learn a printmaking technique.

The workshop began with a full fare of snacks and wine generously sponsored by MailChimp.

Linocut was the focus of this workshop. Linocut is a type of relief printing in which linoleum is used as the printing surface. Julia Vakser Zeltzer of Hyperakt lead the workshop. She studied art and printmaking at Parsons and shared her passion for printmaking with participants.

Julia Vakser Zeltzer explained and demonstrated the basics: sketch the artwork, transfer the sketch to the lino block, cut the artwork into the linoleum by shaving the surface with gouges, ink up the block, pull a proof on newsprint, and finally, print the final piece.

After the full demo, all the participants got into action. One of the participants at the event, Jason Lynch, said, “I thought the overall event was a lot of fun. I [tried] something I probably wouldn’t do on my own. I liked the relaxed atmosphere and the chance to socialize while I was working. I thought this was a better event to meet people because everyone was working on the same thing which was a good ice breaker.”

The process was fun, albeit dangerous at times (the sharp blades of the shaving tools nabbed a few fingers). The evening was a huge success. Everyone met new people, learned a new printmaking technique, and had fun. All the participants took home their blocks and wonderful prints.

“I would definitely do something like this again. It was a great way to unwind at the end of the day. Plus it was fun to create a spontaneous thing and have something to take home,” said participant Jason Lynch.

A cute class photo opp concluded the evening.

Thanks to Etsy and Mailchimp for their generous support, and thanks to everyone for coming to the event!

For more information, visit

Etsy http://www.etsy.com/

Hyperakt http://hyperakt.com/

Mailchimp http://www.mailchimp.com/

To view event details, visit

AIGA/NY Handmade at Etsy http://2006.aigany.org/events/details/11EW/

To view additional photos, please visit our Flickr photostream. We encourage our members to contribute their photos to the AIGA New York Flickr group.