The Linocuts are relief prints taken from blocks of linoleum on which the image has been cut away using gouging tools. The lino blocks are then inked using a roller and the image is transferred to paper using pressure from a hand printing press. Using a 'reduction' technique, layering colour on colour, the print slowly evolves, often going through the press as many as six times.
Up to twenty colour separations can be used on the Silkscreen prints, where each 'separation' is drawn by hand and then photographically transferred to a screen. In order to transfer the image through the screen onto the paper, the hand printing process is carried out using inks and a squeegee.
No two linocut or silkscreen prints will be identical - slight differences in ink colour and registration result in every print being unique. This is part of the character of a hand-made print.
All the prints are printed on specialist mould-made deckle edged papers using high quality linseed oil or water based inks.
David and Susie print the large pictures in the Printmaker's Workshop at the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre. The small linocuts are printed on a Victorian bookbinding or nipping press in the Gallery/workshop in Crail.
