This Instructable will teach you how to do a lino reduction print onto a card. I chose to have 3 layers of color, and for your first reduction print this is probably a good number.

Step 1: Materials Needed

To do this Instructable you will need:

1). Drawing utensils

2). Carving utensils

3). A linoleum block

4). Card-stock Paper

5). Water Soluble block-printing ink

6). Not pictured: you should also have a brayer (the thing for rolling the ink around) and palette paper or something that would work like it.

Step 2: Make Da' Cards

I did not make too many cards for this print, in the interest of saving time, but you can decide on how many you want to do. Once you have decided on this number, divide it by two and get that many pieces of card-stock paper. Cut each piece of paper in half and fold each of the halves in half the long way. You should end up with what you see in the picture. Choose your linoleum size, so that it fits on the card.

Step 3: Draw It!

Draw your picture on the linoleum. I drew a small bird called the "Wrentit". After drawing it on, decide what 3 colors you want in the picture. White doesn't count. I chose yellow, red, and black. At this time you should also be thinking about what is going to be which color, because each time you make a new layer print, you will carve out more of the linoleum.

Step 4: Print ONE

Think about your colors again. Mentally point them out on your drawing. All the white spaces in your picture you should carve out NOW. ONLY carve out what you want to be white. when you print your first color, only what you carved will be white. As you can see in pic 1, I drew the bird, then, wanting only the space around the eye, the branch, and a few feathers to be white, that is ALL I carved out. Next I took my lightest color (light yellow) and rolled the ink out onto a plastic piece with a brayer, and then onto the carving (like in pic 2 and 3). To print your first layer take your linoleum block and center it on the card front. Carefully, holding the linoleum to your card, flip the card over so the linoleum is on the table and the paper is on top. Gently peel the card up from one corner, if all looks well, peel the whole card off, and you'll have a great first layer! (repeat print for each card).

Step 5: Print 2

This print will be with the my second lightest color: redish. Now what you want to carve out is the spaces where you want your first layer to show through. Repeat print process for each card with the second layer.

Step 6: Final Print

Your last print should be your darkest color, for me: BLACK. What you'll carve away is the spaces where you want the 2nd lightest color to show through (hopefully you see the pattern by now). For my carving I carved away everything but a space around the twig, and the bird itself. once again you should repeat the printing step for this layer on all the cards.