About
A first lino cut, and a block that crumbled
Novelta Forum is a sole proprietorship based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, operating online as Novelta Forum (noveltaforum.shop).
How this started
A first lino cut attempted in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on a block bought from a general stationery shop. It crumbled at every corner, the gouge skated instead of cutting, and what came off the block looked nothing like the drawing.
The block was old, dried out and far too hard — traditional battleship lino goes brittle with age, and nobody selling it mentions that. A soft carving rubber and a sharp V-gouge made the same drawing work first time.
Most people who think they cannot carve have simply been given a block that had gone hard.
Our commitment
Soft blocks kept fresh
Carving rubber is stocked in small runs and dated, because a block that has sat two years in a warehouse carves like a biscuit.
Gouge profile named
V or U, and the width in millimetres. Those decide the line you get, and no product photograph shows the difference.
Honest about pressure
Hand-burnished printing has limits. Where a design really needs a press, the listing says so instead of promising.
Our story
The shelf stays short and turns over quickly, which matters more here than range — soft blocks are a perishable product and we would rather run out than sell a hard one.
We publish the unglamorous fixes too: that a smudged print is usually too much ink rather than too little pressure, and that a beginner gets further with one good V-gouge than with a twelve-piece set of soft steel.
Online only
There is no showroom and no walk-in counter. Novelta Forum trades entirely online and ships across India from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, which keeps overheads off the price of the goods.