A Reduction Print at the Roycroft Festival

My Christmas Amyaryllis

For the past few years, Mary has printed her Christmas cards as a demo during the festival. I decided that I would do the same. As I usually print at least 100 cards, so I decided to make an edition of small small prints that I could market during the holidays and later on use the same image for my cards. I wanted to do a reduction print because that is the technique I will be teaching there in October.

Stencil for first color

Last Christmas, I photographed the amaryllis that I had received as a gift. They are so lush, juicy and beautiful.

Drawing fluid on screen

I made a sketch of the red blossoms, which I glued to a sheet of print paper. I cut up about 30 sheets of print paper, set my registration guides and painted screen drawing fluid wherever I wanted to have any color. I painted around the areas that were to stay white. After this dried, I spread screen filler over the entire screen. Another drying period - then I washed out the drawing fluid with cold water. I was left with a stencil for the first color that I will print. You can see the filler within the stencil for the white areas. The first color to be printed will be a light red. I mixed red ink with some transparent base. I can't show you how it printed because I took everything over to the Power House on Tuesday, You will have to come to the Power House on the Roycroft Campus to see the actual steps. And how I will finish the print We will be there both days from 10 AM - 5 PM - the regular Festival hours.
The Power House is on S. Grove St, directly across from the Roycroft Inn, East Aurora, NY.