Speedball Red Baron Linoleum Blocks

I've been carving with a variety of lino blocks, mostly softer rubber varieties and switching to this is difficult but the result is better. This is harder to carve into but is more like wood than the rubber blocks. It holds small details well. I hate cleaning up after using this because I'm used to running my rubber blocks under water in the sink and being done. Despite some of the downfalls to working with this I will buy again.

This is not too hard or too soft. Holds detail well.

I have ordered this before and really love working on it. In spite of what some others had to say, I had no problem in carving out fine lines. The problem I have with this is the way the Unmounted block is prepared for shipping. Because it is unmounted it is flexible and subject to being bent by every package it comes in contact with. Mine came curved. The seller needs to put a stiff piece of cardboard on both sides of the block. Before I can use this it will need to be pressed down flat by a weight for several days.

This is my favorite linoleum to carve. It did not seem crumbly at all to me like some said. It is rigid enough to make small details and easy to make clean lines. I love that it doesn't have any backing aside from the burlap. I do recommend letting it dry after washing paint off, and then storing underneath heavy books to keep it flat as it will warp over time.

This stuff can be tough to cut. If you put it on a heating pad it softens it up considerably and makes the cuts much easier and deeper.

I bought two of these within a few days of each other. The first was lovely and soft, easy and a pleasure to carve. The second was hard and difficult to carve and crumbled at the edges; apparently it was from old stock.

Worked perfectly for my needs. Can’t beat the price and it was fairly easy to carve into. If needed I would definitely from here again.

Really hard to carve, i could only use the finest point from my speedball Carver pen too...the other tips would not carve into this. I wouldn't purchase this again at all. 😫. Also, I ended up poking my finger when my hand slipped and bled everywhere...I was really disgruntled at that point and just threw the whole piece away. The jute on the backside of it also made a huge mess. Epic fail all around.

I love this product! It is smooth and easy to carve. The people that say is grainy may have a knife that is not sharp enough. I have made over 20 prints with this Lino and love it. When it’s cold it hardens. It helps to warm it up with a hair dryer to make it smoother to carve on.

Lino is tricky when you cannot touch and test to see if it is fresh. the piece sent to me was perfect...

Some areas were easy to carve, other areas were hard or crumbled and fell apart.

Dry and crumbly material. Hard and frustrating to work with!! Also it is quite thin, so once you've tried to carve and print something, the stamp itself will bend after being washed off.

I was a little disappointed that it isn’t fresh. It’s dry and crumbly. I was afraid it would be. Having a hard time sourcing fresh linoleum in Ontario Canada unfortunately. Will not be buying again.