After doing my wood cut, I have decided to add colour to my wood cut prints. Instead of only one type of colour, I wanted to try out different colours using this technique called reduction printing.
What is reduction printing?
It is a multicolored print which separates each colour at different stages. The first design of the lightest colour is printed first. The wood block is then carved in some areas and is printed with the following colour. This printing process can be repeated more than once.
When I first started this print, I forgot to print with the lighter colour first. Instead I print with a darker colour. It did not turn out the way I wanted it to be. I noticed that the yellow colour was not fully visible.
However, I managed to carved the areas for this printing technique. I have added a background to the composition. Now, I started with a lighter colour than followed by a darker colour. It is almost showing the reduction technique.
I kept out trying using different colours until I could improve.
Then, I wanted to try a different design which is similar to the previous designs. I carved the outer areas except for the bottle and cup. Before carving, I did a drawing of the design on paper.
I printed the design on paper and it turned out even better than the previous prints. I did five editions of this design.
After doing this wood cut reduction printing, I learnt that it was not easy as I thought it would be. It was time consuming due to the printing. I manage to print properly with a different design and it looked more better than the previous ones I have done. The colour needs to be chosen properly in order to get a nice printing effect.