PRINTMAKING:
AN EXPLANATION

Relief printmaking processes

In relief processes the artist cuts away areas not requiring to be printed from a smooth wood, metal, or plastic surface, leaving raised portions which are then inked before the print is taken.

Woodcut is the oldest known printmaking method, one which reached its full maturity in the 15th and 16th centuries. The design is drawn on a piece of smooth hardwood, and negative areas are cut away; woodcut tends to yield a rather severe, powerful image.

Linocut is a 20th century development of the woodcut, capitalizing on the relative ease with which linoleum can be cut and handled. This method works especially well in large prints with broad areas of flat color; a major drawback is the fragility of the linoleum, which makes large editions problematic.

Wood Engraving is a process in which the print is drawn and cut on end-grain boxwood or fruit wood blocks. As in metal engraving, lozenge or wedge-shaped burins are used to cut away the areas that will not be inked, and the block is then inked in the traditional relief manner. Because the blocks used for wood engraving have virtually no discernible grain, very fine detail may be achieved.

Intaglio printmaking processes

Intaglio (from the Italian itagliare, to carve or cut) comprehends a number of related printmaking techniques usually done on a metal (copper, zinc, or steel) plate. Grooves or pits are incised into the surface of the plate either with the use of a sharp instrument or by the action of a strong acid solution. A greasy ink is then worked into these depressions, and the surface of the plate wiped clean. The high pressure of a press enables a soft, dampened paper to reach and take on the ink in the depressions. The basic intaglio processes are executed without acid and include engraving, drypoint, and mezzotint.

Etching, aquatint, soft ground, and viscosity techniques all require the use of acid to produce the image. A collograph may be executed as either a relief or an intaglio print as the artist desires.

Engraving was developed in Europe in the 15th century. The image is created by the action of the burin, a wedge- or lozenge-shaped tool, directly on the plate. The tool is held steady and the plate is turned to produce the line, the hardness or crispness of which results from the metal removed from the plate by the burin. Shading effects are produced by cross-hatching, by the multiplication of parallel lines, or by stippling.

Drypoint is executed with a sharp needle on the metal plate, in which the tool both incises a line and raises a burr. Both the line and the burr will hold ink, and the resulting print therefore frequently displays a slightly 'soft,' irregular line. Because the raised burr is fragile, large editions of drypoints can only be achieved by the application of a thin layer of steel plating.

Mezzotint was developed late in the 17th century. It is similar to drypoint in that a burr is raised over the entire surface of the plate by the action of a serrated tool (or rocker). In this first state the plate will print entirely black. Tones are developed by the use of various burnishing tools, and the overall finished effect is one of continuous tone and velvety blacks.

Etching is a process in which the incisions in the plate are produced by drawing with a sharp tool through an acid-resistant wax ground and subsequently immersing the plate in an acid bath. The resulting line is less crisp than that achieved by engraving; darker lines are produced by longer immersion times in the acid bath. Etching is also used as a catch-all term for all intaglio processes employing an acid bath in the production of the image.

Aquatint is a term derived from the Italian acquatinta, from the Latin aquafortis (strong water, or acid) and tincta (dyed); as a printmaking technique it was developed in the late 18th century. The plate is covered with a fine dust of rosin particles that adhere when melted; the acid bites around the particles and produces a tonal effect, the depth of tone varying according to the length of time the plate is left in the acid. A recent alternative ground is created by a light coating of spray enamel paint.

Soft ground, also referred to as “chalk manner” or “crayon manner,” utilizes a plate covered with a fatty ground which remains pliable. Paper placed on top of the ground is drawn upon with pen or pencil, the ground adhering to the paper and leaving a soft, textured line on the surface of the plate, which is then treated just as a traditional etched plate. Since the ground remains soft, cloth, leaves, and other items may be pressed into it to produce a variety of textural effects.

Viscosity was developed in the 20th century by Stanley William Hayter. The metal plate, once drawn on, is deeply etched, producing several different surface levels. Inks of varying viscosity (that is, oiliness) are rolled onto the plate with hard or soft rollers. If an ink of low viscosity is rolled over one of higher oiliness the stiffer ink will adhere only around the oilier ink. Very fluid effects and textures may be produced using this technique.

Collograph, derived from the Greek collo, glue, or the French coller, to glue, is a process invented by Glen Alps in 1955, and it is the only printmaking process to be developed strictly as a fine art medium. The collograph is pulled from a surface built up of adhered (glued) elements in the manner of a collage. The finished plate may be inked in intaglio (the uppermost surface wiped clean), or in relief (only the uppermost surface inked), or in some combination of the two, and is then run through an intaglio press to produce the printed image.

Lithographic printing

Lithography, from the Greek words for stone and writing, was invented by Aloys Senefelder in 1796, who originally called his invention “chemical printing” because the process is based on the antipathy of grease and water. Lithography is a planographic, or flat-surface process executed on a smoothly grained slab of limestone, zinc, or aluminum plate. The naturally grease-receptive surface is drawn on with grease crayons or liquid grease solutions. After treatment with a chemical desensitizing solution of gum arabic and nitric or phosphoric acid, the plate or stone is dampened with a sponge and a very still ink is rolled on the surface. The ink adheres only to the grease particles in drawn areas and is rejected elsewhere. If the chemical processing has been done correctly, the print will duplicate exactly the tonalities and textures drawn on the stone or plate. Many techniques can be accommodated by this process, including crayon techniques, washes, pen and ink effects, and textural transfers as well as flat areas of color and tints.

Screen printing

Serigraphy, it’s first syllable derived from the Latin for silk, is the name coined by Carl Zigrosser for fine art screen printing, which in its commercial application was a development of the late 19th century. A screen print is the only one which is not printed in reverse from its matrix. A stencil process, it employs silk, dacron, or some other fine mesh fabric stretched on a frame. Non-image areas are blocked out with paper, glue, or other specially prepared stencils, and paint or ink is forced through the opening in the fabric by use of a squeegee, a piece of wood with a rubber blade, it size chosen to accommodate the widthe of the screen. A separate screen is prepared for each color desired

Monotype and Monoprint printing

Monotype is a direct process that yields a one-of-a-kind print. The design is drawn with ink, paint, or other material(s) on the metal or glass plate, and the print is taken. Since most of the ink or other drawing material generally transfers, only a relatively pale “ghost image” is possible as a second print.

Monoprint is a similar process which also yields a unique print. It differs from monotype, however, in that some part of the image is produced from a repeatable matrix or plate executed in one of the other printmaking processes.