Sunday, August 14, 2011

Reduction Printing

I'm teaching myself how to create reduction lino prints. First and foremost, I never ever think about printing in multiple colors. Secondly, to cut a lino block knowing that it'll be gradually destroyed in the process is mind numbing. Hmm, so that's why it's called a suicide print. Thinking about the process and actually executing it has been a challenge.

I probably should have started with fewer colors, but I didn't. The first pass was a breeze. I had carved out significant areas to remain the "color" of the white paper and the print immediately took shape. I knew that I was in trouble as soon as I laid down my second color: black. Light to dark, right? I should have printed black last. Lesson learned.

Instead of giving up, I decided to keep going. The third color was orange and had I printed it as a second pass it would've been fine. However, because it was overlaid on black it was awful. The next color was deep gold and -yuck- it looked as bad as the orange. I continued printing. My last color was a waste of time. Geez. Okay, I blew it. But . . . my registration was perfect! I followed every protocol to make sure that each sheet that I laid on top of the block was positioned accurately. And it was.

Okay, it's back to the drawing board to cut a new design. I'll rework my system for mixing and laying down colors. Right now I'm using basic water soluble ink. Once my process is perfected I'll use oil based ink. Maybe, I'll have an image to post next time.

We'll see.

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