Printmaking is simply the art of laying ink on paper. There are many different methods of this art form including relief printing, intalligo, etching and mono printing. I’ve mostly adventured with relief printing in the forms of Lino-cut and reduction printmaking.

Linocut references the primary material (the block) that you carve in, artist grade linoleum. This material is preferred as it’s reasonably soft to carve but keeps fine detail with a printing press.

Reduction printing is where you use one sheet of material and carve away what you want to stay on the print. An example would be if you had a sky with clouds you would first carve away what you want to stay the white of the paper, then print your lightest blue, then carve away (reducing the block) what of the lightest blue you would want to keep on the print and then roll the next color, on and on until you create the desired image. It’s a bit of a puzzle, but so rewarding in the finished product!