more using a Cuttlebug as a printing press - lino cutting

I have not done any printing for ages,mainly because I have been doing my MA and the dissertation - which is now finished at last.

This time I have been making lino cuts for an ATCsforall.com swap, Botanical Wonders, where 9 block prints, 5" x 7" have to be sent in.

Some time ago I carved this one and I am inordinately fond of it! I like the positive and negative elements - I think the small fish were cut out paper fish added to the block...

This was a drawing from some time ago I was going to use for an etched acrylic sheet, so I started with this 

but altered it to this, 

to straighten the edge and add more detail to the half carved leaf and to the acorn cups

Next I tried an iris I found in a book of old botanical drawings

and now wish I had maybe stuck to this carving for the flower but I decided it was confusing so 

I did this one and then these

and I am wondering whether to cut out most of the flower away for white space now...

The printing was done using the Cuttlebug machine as a press: only the black one is done with water based printing ink and a roller - as I couldn't remember where I put them, doh. Previously I used stamp pads rubbed over the surface and then printed. Cheap ones are hopeless as they make a bitty print - see second iris. The best are Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads (second print of brown leaves and green iris) - unlikely but they are really effective and give a nice uniform colour too.