Reduction Printing Part 1

Finished greeting card with hand made envelope  by Mary M Payne

Recently,  I learned the process of doing a reduction linoleum print and since then it has become a fascination.   I decided that a series of greeting cards would be a welcome challenge and perhaps even useful.   Here is what I have found out.

A printmaker can choose many ways to make relief prints.  The artist might use one technique or combine them.   Usually wood or lino are the materials used as a base. 

 A print may be done with a press or burnished by hand with the use of a baren for hand rubbing.   I now have a small press in my studio and am busy experimenting with it. 

One of the techniques for rendering a multicolored print is called a réduction print or in French: 
linogravure a épargne perdue.   All the colors will be printed from the same block as it is carved away.  Each color is printed on top of the color put down before. 

 The technique is tricky as the entire edition can't be redone if there is a mistake.   I have made editions of 10 each and usually 6 are good ones.  I hear that this is average for an edition. 

 Let me show you how to get started with this technique.  

I always try to draw out my idea with watercolors, pencil and markers to come up with an idea and a color range.   Here are a few sketches I started with but soon realized that the first color must go over the next color without vastly changing the effect of the second color.  

Mary M Payne

That means of course, that one must put down the lightest color first. 

I'm afraid that this background blue would never go over yellow without changing the hue to a green. 

 This green on the leaves could go over the yellow ( but it would be lighter) and then what background color would work?

   With a bit more experimenting I went with black leaves instead of a black background which seems  too somber for this theme.  

Hand painted lino cut by Mary M Payne

 I decide to start with yellow as a background, my second color being the petals and the last color being black for the outlines and leaves.



I first had a masonite frame built at my local hardware store.  This was to insure that each pass of the print ended up aligned with the first one.  I would slot the lino into the frame each time.   I also did some pencil markings on the back of each card that matched those I had put on the frame.  These I could erase later on the cards.

Frame with a piece of white paper behind it.  

 The frame is a piece of masonite which is the same height as the piece of linoleum I am using. They both go smoothly through the press toether.  Notice the markings I use on the back to match with those on the paper.

Next I carve the piece of linoleum with woodworking gouges the reverse of what it will be printed on the page. I used carbon paper to transfer the drawing.

  Where I have carved away the linoleum, that part will print the color of the paper: white.  

 By the way,  It was a poor idea to use ink markers on the lino as I did in the photo.  I learned the hard way that this will transfer onto the print and may not get covered.  I had to do carve another. 

This is my first printing with my lightest color yellow. 

Reduction print, second color  Photo by Mary M Payne

Next I carve away everywhere that I want yellow to show through.

I print the second color which is a red- orange. Then I carve away all of the background and the centers of the flower petals leaving only the outlines and the leaves.

Reduction Print, third color  Photo by Mary M Payne

This is the block carved away after printing the first two colors.

Here is the result of the three color reduction process.   The red-orange faded with the yellow underneath it so I experimented with that color for subsequent printings.    

 For a follow-up post I will show you some other color choices of the same cards.  In the end, I decided to make three separate blocks for three colors so I could print the card again.