wood & linocut prints
A time-consuming procedure, however worth the time it takes …
Relief printing is particularly gratifying. Truly, the procedure is time-consuming but it’s interesting and dynamic, and it requires the artist to envisage the majority of things in advance, and to segment his work into phases … From an idea to its realisation, you move placidly beginning by drawing directly onto the surface, or transferring a drawing onto the surface, which may be either wood or linoleum; next comes the engraving of plates using special chisels, the number of plates depending on the number of colours, or you can work with a single plate, engraving and getting the matrix ready for the following colour after each impression, and so forth until the final impression … You simply chisel as long as the number of impressions you’ve envisaged requires. Between each two impressions a one- or two-day pause must be made – depending on the humidity of the air and paper, which colours you’re using etc. Thus about a fortnight is required for multi-colour printing, while 5-7 days suffice for single-colour printings.