Print Making

Around the beginning of the 20th century, relief prints pulled from carved pieces of linoleum, or linocuts, started to become popular and received attention from major artists and critics, which started the growing reputation of the medium as an expression of fine art. Linocuts share much in common with woodcuts, but whereas the later type of print requires that the artist work with and around the grain of the wood, the uniform nature of the linoleum allows it to be cut in whatever way the artist chooses, allowing for greater creative variations as can been seen in the fine work of Chuck Close.

Chuck Close 'Alex/Reduction print' (1993)

Process of the prints

HOW TO: Reduction Linocuts

1.     Draw the lines of the image onto the linoleum block (remembering that the image will be reversed when you print it) and plan out the tones for the image very carefully. It's important when doing reduction linocuts to know where each color will go and what order they should be printed in, because if you make a mistake, as there's no going back.

2.     Carve the block to remove the areas where the natural colour of the paper will show through, although in some cases that will not occur at all and no carving will be necessary.

3.     Ink the block with the lightest tone in the image - it is VERY important to work from light to dark in this process - and pull prints with that tone for the entire edition. For example: if you are planning to do 40 prints you must ink the block and print it at this stage 40 times.

4.     Begin carving away at the linoleum block, removing the areas where the tones that you just printed will be visible.

5.     Ink the block with the next lightest tone and pull prints with that second tone for the entire edition. Since block printing ink is quite opaque, the second, darker tone will completely cover the first tone, except for the areas you just carved out. You will now have an edition of prints that has two tone, plus possibly the color of the paper as well.

6.     Continue repeating the process, carving away the parts of the image that you want to remain visible and printing the rest with the next darker color. Eventually you will get to the darkest part of the image (black or some other very dark hue) and very little printable area will remain on the block.

7.     Print the last layer through the entire edition and you are finished!

Pablo Picasso 'Black and white'

Reduction block printing was a favourite of Picasso's and the introduction of the method is even attributed to Pablo Picasso.  He referred to reduction prints as “suicide prints” because the matrix is destroyed, little by little, as the print progresses.  

My own reduction print of my dad...