Linocut: Tayto

This is the first linocut I've done in a long time. A bit of explanation is in order.

TAYTO is the mascot for an Irish potato chip company. Not so big in the States, but apparently everyone knows Tayto on the other side of the pond. My wife and I picked up some snacks while we were in Dublin and she was immediately taken with the cute little mascot. She saved a bag to later implement the image somehow, but I'm not sure what for.

Anyway, it turned out that we lost the bag, and as my wife was in a bad spot I thought I'd do something to cheer her up. I found a likely image of Tayto online, cleared out all the color, enlarged and reversed it, printed it out, and glued it to a block of linoleum. I traced the image out with a slim knife and began carving, and in two and a half hours I was finished. This is a very rough print, the ink was wet and globby and I didn't smooth out fullest contact with the paper, but the general idea is here. (I do need to find a smoother ink formula so the ink doesn't just build up on the edges like that.)

Originally Tayto said, "Be kind to Ireland," a plea for snackers to throw their chip bags in the trash rather than the streets or sidewalks of their fine nation. I drew in a large speech balloon so Tayto can say an incredible variety of things from now on.