Reduction Printmaking- a different way to think about images

Reduction Printmaking:

In relief printing, a reduction print is a multicolor print in which the separate colors are printed from the same block. Usually, the lightest color is printed first and then the block is "reduced" by carving away certain areas to prepare the plate for the next color. The disadvantage of reduction printmaking is that once the print is complete, the process cannot be duplicated.

The linocut is a printmaking technique similar to that of the woodcut, the difference being that the image is engraved on linoleum instead of wood. Since linoleum offers an easier surface for working, linocuts offer more precision and a greater variety of effects than woodcuts. Long disparaged by serious artists as not challenging enough, the linocut came into its own after artists like Picasso and Matisse began to work in that technique.

Plate: the piece of linocut on which the artist cuts on, made of linoleum

Brayer: rolling device to add ink

To ink a plate: to use a brayer to roll ink onto a plate in preparation for printing

To pull a print: the act of pressing an inked plate onto paper and creating an image

To register: to line up the plate on the paper, to keep it straight

Edition: set of prints

Great resource website:

http://www.robinurton.com/history/printmaking.htm