Best Linocut Starter Kits for Beginners

For most first-time carvers, the Speedball Deluxe Block Printing Kit is the one to buy. At $77.99 in Austin Gallery's 2026 guide, it is the pick that lets a beginner carve and pull a print on the same day, with a bench hook in the box. A buyer moving up from a small kit who wants to try harder lino should take the Essdee Lino Cutting and Printing Kit. One who wants several blocks and a baren in one box should look at the Bobblebro Linocut Kit. One who only wants to learn whether carving appeals should spend $18.65 on Speedball's Speedy-Carve kit and nothing more. The picks were weighed on what each box contains against what printing requires, as listed by the makers and by published reviews.

The gap between the cheapest and the dearest of those two Speedball boxes is about $59. Nearly all of it pays for what turns a carved block into a print: ink, a brayer and a bench hook. A complete kit needs a block, a cutter, a brayer, ink and something to print on. Almost none supplies the last item. Hickman Design's review of eight kits concluded that many lack either a baren or printing paper, and it named the Artway kit as "one of the only kits to contain printmaking paper designed for lino printing." Every kit below should be bought on the assumption that paper is a separate purchase.

Austin Gallery names it Best Starter Kit (4.7/5 in its listing) because the box holds a whole workflow: four inks plus extender, a brayer, a bench hook, a cutter handle with blades, and two blocks. One block is soft Speedy-Carve and the other is mounted traditional linoleum. CreativiU compared 12 beginner sets from 11 sources and counted nine accessory items in this kit, the most of any set it examined. It also found a $201.96 Pfeil set with six. Museum Link calls the Deluxe its Premium Pick.

The sources disagree on price. Austin Gallery lists $77.99 and CreativiU lists $54. Neither source settles which figure is current, so a buyer should expect to pay somewhere in that range.

The real drawback is the hardware. Hickman Design calls the roller poor quality, and Austin Gallery calls the cutter handle basic plastic. The mounted linoleum is the traditional, harder material, which Inked Block says takes significant carving pressure, especially when cold. The soft block is the one to carve first. The inks raise a separate question: whether a first print wants water-soluble or oil-based ink.

The strongest case against the Deluxe is that kits charge for convenience. Austin Gallery makes this point about its own pick: the kit costs more up front than buying the parts separately. With Hickman Design's verdict on the roller, the objection carries weight. A buyer who already knows which gouge, roller and ink they want should build their own set. Most first-time buyers do not know yet. The kit's value is not a discount. Its value is that nothing is missing on the first evening. If the roller disappoints, Austin Gallery lists Speedball's 4-inch Deluxe Soft Rubber Brayer separately at $24.99.

Skip it if only printing on fabric, or if cutters and a brayer are already in the drawer.

Illus Press made it Editor's Choice for beginners in 2026, and Hickman Design ranks it first of eight. Its main feature is lino in more than one hardness, so a carver can compare soft block and traditional lino on the same weekend. The kit also includes interchangeable cutting heads, water-based ink, a 3-in-1 baren and stamping tool, and a hand guard. It is the only pick here with a guard named in its contents. The piece count is 22 at Illus Press and 23 at Hickman Design, which says more about counting than about the kit.

Hickman Design lists it at £23.49, down from £33.99. Essdee is a UK brand, and none of the sources here gives a US price, so American buyers will be paying import retail of unknown size.

The drawbacks are physical. Illus Press found the blocks stiff at first and the brayer slow to master. There is no printing paper. Stiffness is what harder lino does, and Luke Hickman's warning that "fresh traditional lino is much better than old crumbly lino" applies to any sheet that has sat on a shelf. A carver with limited hand strength should skip it and stay with soft block.

Museum Link rates it Best Value. The kit holds four linoleum blocks, a six-blade tool set, 2.64 oz of eco-friendly ink, a brayer, a baren and transfer papers. Illus Press adds a four-color ink set and a sharpening stone to the list. The block count is the point. Museum Link marked down its own Editor's Choice, a Speedball kit, for including only one block. Bobblebro answers that complaint. The sharpening stone answers another: every source here agrees that dull tools make any lino feel hard.

None of the sources publishes a price, so the budget label rests on reviewers' framing rather than a figure this page can quote. The listed contents include no bench hook or hand guard. Austin Gallery prices Speedball's Bench Hook and Inking Plate at $18.49 if one is wanted.

The drawbacks are inconsistent brayer quality and limited suitability for detailed work, both from Museum Link. The sources also do not say whether the blocks are soft cut or traditional gray. Skip it for fine-line work.

At $18.65 including tax on Speedball's product page, this is the cheapest full carving kit here. The kit holds a 4 x 6 inch Speedy-Carve block, a wooden handle, #2 and #4 cutters, and a sheet of tracing paper. Speedball says it holds "all the key tools & accessories for block printing, no matter your preferred ink type." It suits any ink type partly because it includes none. There is also no brayer and no bench hook, so it carves a block but cannot print one.

The kit is built for buyers who want to test their hands before spending more. The block is good material, and Mary Is Contrary found Speedy Carve held good line detail without crumbling. Upgrades come in small steps: single cutters cost $4.95 each and the 6-piece cutter set costs $20.11. Skip it if the goal is a finished print this weekend without a second order.

• Speedball Deluxe Block Printing Kit: total beginners who want to print the same day.
• Essdee Lino Cutting and Printing Kit: carvers moving up who want to try harder lino, with a guard.
• Bobblebro Linocut Kit: buyers who want spare blocks and a baren in one box.
• Speedball Speedy-Carve Block Printing Kit: anyone testing their interest for under $20.

Textile printers fit none of these. Speedball's Fabric Block Printing Starter Kit at $44.54 is built for them. Carvers chasing fine-detail editions have outgrown starter kits and should buy fresh gray lino and a tool-only set such as the Flexcut SK130. For everyone else, the item that decides the first evening is not a block or an ink. It is a sharp edge, and a buyer should budget for keeping one before buying anything else.