Some Printmaking Facts

Some printmaking facts

In this context, a print is a limited edition and original work of art produced by an artist using one or a variety of different techniques. There are four major classes of print.

A. The planographic print (typified by the lithograph), in which the design is drawn upon a flat surface (in the case of lithography, stone) and then treated so as to hold ink. The ink is then transferred onto paper using pressure.

B. The relief print (of which the woodcut and linocut are examples), in which the areas of a design which hold the printing ink and transfer it to paper are the areas of the plate which are raised, or have not been cut away.

C. The intaglio print (of which etching, aquatint, engraving and drypoint are examples), in which ink is held in grooves or wells cut, incised or etched into the surface of the plate, then forced out onto damp paper under great pressure.

D. The stencil print (typified by silkscreen processes) in which areas of a fine mesh screen are blocked out using paint, or a greasy or waxy material, and ink is forced through open areas of the screen onto paper.

A B C D

Aquatint – an intaglio technique, a variety of etching which imitates the effect of watercolor washes. Through the action of heat, particles of resin are adhered to the surface of the plate. When the plate is exposed to acid, the acid will eat into the area around the resin particles, forming a pattern of circular wells which will hold ink.

Drypoint – a very direct and simple intaglio process, in which the line is incised on the surface of the plate using a sharp point.

Engraving – the earliest known intaglio method, in which lines are incised on a metal plate using a special tool called a burin. Etching – the most well known intaglio technique, in which the artist uses an etching needle to draw through a wax resist covering a metal plate, thus exposing small areas of metal. The plate is then dipped in an acid bath, and the acid eats lines into the plate conforming precisely to the lines made by the etching needle through the wax resist.

Lithography – a planographic technique in which a surface (originally a flat stone) is drawn upon using a greasy lithographic crayon. The rest of the stone is wetted. Based on the principle that oil and grease are repelled by water and attracted by grease, when printing ink is applied it adheres to the design made by the lithographic crayon.

Monotype – a planographic technique, in which the ink design is literally painted or drawn directly onto the surface of the plate, and then transferred onto paper. Due to the nature of this technique, usually only one (in limited cases, two), impressions of the design can be made.

Screenprint/serigraph – a stencil method of print-making in which an image is made on a screen of silk or other fine mesh. Areas to print blank are coated with an impermeable substance. Ink is then forced through the open areas of mesh onto the printing surface. A silkscreen print or serigraph is a print made by this method.

Woodcut – historically the most important of the relief printing processes. The design is drawn directly onto the surface of the block. Parts to print white are cut away, leaving the design itself as a raised surface onto which printing ink can be applied.

Wood engraving – an intaglio process of printing, which uses the hard end-grain of the wood rather than the soft plank (with the grain) portions used in woodcut. Designs are engraved into wood in much the same manner as in engraving.