What is a reduction print?

There are many different types of printmaking - from the crude potato cuts that children do in their early years to more sophisticated methods such as:

• Monotype

• Linocut

• Etching

• Woodblock

My preferred method that of Linocut, although I occasionally dabble in monotype. I get an enormous amount of pleasure from being a Lino print artist and want to share my experience with you.

Before getting into what a reduction print is, let’s make sure we understand the basic form.

A Lino Print is…

A Lino print is a form of block print, created when an artist carves away sections of a piece of artists Lino and applies ink before printing it onto paper.

This is a simple form of it but the difficulty and sophistication level can be increased by adding more colours and layers. One of my favourite prints was made by carving 5 different blocks to layer up around 7 colours.

How is a reduction print different?

Reduction print gets its name from the fact that the artist repeatedly reduces the block by carving more away for each layer. You start with only a little bit carved on layer one. These carve areas will remain the colour of the paper. When carving the second layer, the areas carved away will reveal the colour from layer one. This repeats until the artist is happy that the final details have been added (or there’s no block left to carve).

The potential pitfalls of reduction printmaking

There are always mistakes to be made (if you believe that you can makes mistakes with art).

Assuming you have an finished image in mind, then some of the problems that you might encounter could be:

• Failing to plan

• Getting the colours in the wrong order

• Carving away too much

• Getting the colours wrong

• Wasting prints

Failing to plan

There’s the saying ‘Fail to prepare and prepare to fail.’ Taking time to plan out the print will save a lot of hassle later down the line. The first time that I made a reduction print, I separated out the colours of my print and plotted each one on a different piece of tracing paper using coloured pencil. This allowed me to work out if the order of the layers would work before cutting into the Lino.

Getting the colours in the wrong order

Planning plays a big part in this too. You also need to understand how the inks sit on top of each other. Opaque inks will sit happily on top of any other colour but some ink colours are modified by being laid on top of others. This is something that you can identify through researching your inks. If you cannot find this information then try printing strips of each colour in one direction then, once it dries, printing a layer of those colours over the top in the other direction. This will illustrate how the inks behave in relation to each other.

Carving away too much

I’ve address this point in a previous, much shorter blog from a couple of years ago. Over carving can be annoying. I once got so over zealous when carving a flamingo that I cut a massive chunk out of its knee. DISASTER I thought. Then I stumbled upon a tip (cannot for the life of me remember where) that suggested using wall filler to build back that area of the block and re-carve it. It’s not ideal but it worked for that particular block.

With some blocks, it may not make a massive difference to take a little more away. Take my seascapes for example. I had a particular end result in mind but having more or less silver in it wouldn’t have been a disastrous outcome. It was more of my reaction to the sea than creating a photographic representation. It would be very different if I was producing a portrait of a specific person who was known to the onlooker.

Getting the colours wrong

It’s always important to test the block before jumping straight into printing the layer. This gives an opportunity to make sure that you’re happy with the carve, the colour and the layout. If you print onto the edition with a colour you’re unhappy with then that’s a print that goes to waste (or does it? - read on below).

Wasting prints

Once you’ve printed the first layer and start to carve the second, there’s no going back to print more of them. That’s it! The maximum have been printed and they block has been altered. The risk with this is that any mistakes, messes or marks that you are unhappy with mean that you have a print you can’t use in the edition. This makes the edition smaller and means you have fewer to sell.

With any edition, there are going to be prints that don’t take as well or that perhaps slip. Imperfections and mistakes happen. These imperfect prints could be discarding but I don’t like the waste. I use these prints to create collages and breathe new life into them.

What makes reduction prints more valuable?

It’s the risk and limit factor. Once the next layer is carved there’s no going back. This means mistakes reduce the edition and smaller editions often fetch a higher value as they are more exclusive.

Once the prints are done, they cannot be reproduced.

Multi-block print v reduction print

Using multiple blocks to create a layered print is much less risky because any lost prints could potentially be remade. Another bonus of using multiple blocks that remain unaltered is that you can reproduce the print in different colour ways. This is something that I have done with my Honey Bee prints.

Even so, there’s something exciting about making a reduction print. I don’t know whether it’s having to just commit to it which forces me to make clearer decisions or the challenge of solving the pitfall problems but I just love making them.

If this sounds like a process you’d like to have a go at then join the mailing list and keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming reduction print course. It’s going to be so much fun!