At the weekend I learned

This weekend I learned the art of reduction (in relation to the the art of lino cutting and printing not yet mastered) did not and will not be achieved in day.  I tentatively broached the subject at my printing class last week and was warned against the unhealthy habit with ‘don’t do it!’ or words to that effect.  This was like red rag to a bull and I went on stubbornly.  Made the design and planned carefully the colours I might use and in what order.  Although reduction is a good way to produce a coloured print from one block, for example the plate will always register well because the second and subsequent colours will always fall in place because the same block is used.  There is a downside; once the plate has been reduced you cannot get it back again and reprint the first or any previous colours. This is why this method is called the Suicide Print and why my fellows were so against it

To ensure the print is successful the procedure is complex and demands careful planning and thorough execution!

I was also warned to prepare for a degree of failure and to make plenty of copies at the first stage, even so after only two colours and a weekends work I am not sure that they are ready for human consumption.

It is in situations like this, I wonder why I didn’t take up some other hobby like rocket science!