Suicide Print

It has taken a while, but I think I have got my head around how to make a suicide print. To work it out, I made a sketch, then drew each colour in the sketch as an underlay, on a separate sheet of tracing paper.

I am working on a three-colour (plus white) print. It works like this:

• Cut out the white areas. Print the first colour (yellow).
• Cut out the yellow areas. Print the second colour (light blue, say).
• Cut out the light blue areas. Print the third colour (dark blue, say).

It sounds easy, but I found it hard to put together.  I have to explain it to myself, like this:

• At stage one, the yellow covers all areas except where I want white. 
• At stage two, the light blue covers all areas except where I want yellow or white - because I have cut the yellow out, now, so it won't be overprinted. 
• And at stage three, the dark blue covers all areas except where I want light blue, yellow or white – because I have cut the light blue out to stop it being overprinted - and the yellow and white areas have gone already.

It feels strange, like working backwards. I shall take pictures, to show the progress of my first attempt.