Reduction linoleum block printing is an aging, but unique process that is all but lost in the immediacy of today’s digital age. Picasso is said to have invented the technique in the 1950s as a way of safe-guarding his editions. Because of the labor-intensive process it requires equal amounts of technical skill and foresight, as well as tremendous patience.
Relief block printing has been around for hundreds of years, used by many cultures as a way of creating multiples. It is called “relief” printing because one carves an image into a surface gouging down into the material. What is not carved away remains as a raised relief. It is this surface that accepts the ink to be printed on to paper.
The idea of “reduction” comes into play when a single block of linoleum is used to print a multicolored print. The first step is to reveal the white of the paper by carving certain areas away from the linoleum, then inking the block with the first color and running it through the press.
In this 1st stage, the number of prints in your edition must be determined. This is due to the fact that once a color/stage is printed, one can never reprint that stage because that same block will then need to be carved in order to print the next stage. There is an amazing feeling of suspense as the piece gradually begins to reveal itself through layering of color. A certain “leap of faith” is required with the medium because once printing begins, one can never go back. This is also why it is sometimes referred to as the “suicide method”. But once you give in to the wondrous mystery of the process, you realize the journey is the destination.
