Welcome!
At Potions Press we create nature-inspired linoleum block prints on a variety of colorful, handmade papers. All prints are designed, carved, and pressed in Vermont by sisters Kylie MacKinnon and Rayna Dally. You can find us and our prints at a number of local art markets throughout the year as well as online in our Etsy shop. Follow our social media pages on instagram and facebook to keep up to date with new prints and sales.
Meet the Artists
Kylie founded Potions Press in 2017 after spending the previous few years focused on painting. She learned how to make block prints in art class at Essex High School and came back to the practice as a way to make affordable handmade artworks. Kylie draws a lot of her inspiration from time spent outside, and takes a special interest in wildflower identification and the cycles of the moon. She loves developing new ways of adding color to her prints, such as using multiple blocks, reduction printing, incorporating color gradients, hand-coloring, and mono-printing with pressed plants.
Rayna joined Potions Press more recently to lend a helping hand to the growing business. She brings her cheerful, sunny disposition to markets and her excellent attention to detail to the production process. Both sisters have always been creative, and Rayna's many talents also include making hand-dipped beeswax candles, potholder rugs, and bone broth; foraging for edible wild mushrooms; finding four-leafed clovers; performing with her fire hoop; and being a great mom to her daughter Daisy.
Rayna joined Potions Press more recently to lend a helping hand to the growing business. She brings her cheerful, sunny disposition to markets and her excellent attention to detail to the production process. Both sisters have always been creative, and Rayna's many talents also include making hand-dipped beeswax candles, potholder rugs, and bone broth; foraging for edible wild mushrooms; finding four-leafed clovers; performing with her fire hoop; and being a great mom to her daughter Daisy.
The Process
Block prints are made by carving an image into a flat surface, most often linoleum, rubber, or wood, called a block. A thin layer of ink is rolled onto the block and the image is transferred from the inked block onto paper or fabric by applying pressure using your fingers, a spoon, a barren, or a printing press.
Carving is the most time-intensive part of the process. Each block usually starts as a sketch or series of sketches which is then transferred to the blank block using tracing paper. Details emerge with each carefully made cut. Carving creates a totally different line quality than drawing, as it is a subtractive process rather than an additive one, and it's always interesting to see how the final carving differs from the initial sketch. It's also different in that each mark is permanent. There's no such thing as an eraser or white-out when carving a block, so any mistakes must be creatively incorporated into the design.
At Potions Press we love color! The simplest way to bring color to block prints is by printing on colorful paper, but we've found that some of our designs really come to life with hand coloring using water color or gouache.
Another way to create colorful prints is by using multiple blocks and layering them one on top of the other. This print uses transparent inks so that secondary colors - the purple, orange, and green - are created where the blue, red, and yellow overlap.
One of the wonderful things about block printing is that once the block is carved, you can make as many prints from it as you want. Reduction prints are the exception to this rule. Made from a single block, but printed in multiple layers, more of the block is carved away before each layer of color is applied. This particular example also incorporates a gradient ink roll, yet another way to bring color to block printing.