Prints

Despite printmaking’s long history and various methods of production, there are essentially three basic types of prints. Printing, itself, is simply the transfer of ink from a prepared printing surface, i.e. the block, plate, or stone, to a piece of paper or another material. The difference, however, lies in where and how the ink is carried. The ink can be carried 1) on raised sections of printing surface (relief), 2) in lowered scratches or grooves of the surface (intaglio), and 3) on top of the surface itself (planographic).

1) RELIEF PRINTING

Relief printing is the oldest of the three types and is at least 11 centuries old. Various methods have been used to cut away non-printing areas from the block’s surface to create the raised image, either by machine or manually. A thick printer’s ink is then applied by hand or a roller across the raised surface of the block. Then, the paper is laid onto the block, covered with a protective layer (tympan), and then pressed by the flat plate (platen) of the printing press.

Woodcuts

In woodcut printing, the image is created by cutting away at a wood block along the grain of the wood, removing the wood surface everywhere except for the lines of the image. Woodcutters would use a sharp knife for detailed areas and a flat gouge for larger, open areas of the image. Ink is then applied to the raised surfaces of the image. Next, the paper is either stamped by the block or laid upon the block for rubbing or pressing to transfer the ink to the paper. One can typically identify a woodcut by the stark contrast between the black lines and the white areas where the printing surface was cut away.

Metal and Wood Engravings

Up until then late 18th century, fine detail was difficult to achieve with woodcutting, as cutting along the wood grain had a tendency to cause the grain to crumble and one had to drag the knife towards oneself. Wood engraving employs the use of a copper engraver’s tool and pushes the graver through the wood surface across the grain, away from oneself. This method, created by Bewick, allows for thinner and more delicate lines and revived the use of relief printing for book illustration in the late 18th century.

2) INTAGLIO

The Italian term for incising or engraving, Intaglio is at least five centuries old and requires much greater pressure from the press than relief printing, since ink is left in the grooves instead of the ridges. Variation in intensity of ink on the paper is another distinguishing characteristic of intaglio printing. The image is manually cut with an engraving tool or chemically etched with acid into a flat metal plate. Ink is applied with a roller to go into the recesses of the plate. It pushed more securely into the grooves with a dabber. Then, the ink is carefully wiped from the non-printing areas of the plate, leaving it only in the recessed grooves. Due to the need for greater pressure to force the paper into the inked grooves, the paper is first dampened. It is then laid onto the plate, sandwiched between thick wool blankets, and rolled through two large cylinders of the printing press.

Etchings

A natural evolution from engraving, etching, emerged in the early 16th century. The method of etching, uses acid to “engrave” lines into a metal plate. First the copper plate is heated, and acid-resistant wax is rubbed over its entire surface in a thin, even layer. This coating of wax is known as the ground. After the ground has cooled and hardened, the artist is free to draw the image in the ground, exposing the copper plate beneath in those lines. The plate is dipped into an acid bath, which then bites or “engraves” the image design in the areas of exposed copper. The lines may vary in depth and width by varying the length of time the plate is held in the acid bath. Ink is applied to the plate, which is then wiped clean so that the ink is only held in the recesses of the plate. Paper is laid over the plate and pressed with great pressure, transferring the ink to the paper and leaving noticeable plate marks in the sheet.

Drypoints

Due to its facility and immediacy, drypoint etching would often be used to touch up or add in finishing details to regular etchings and engravings. However, artist-etchers, such as Rembrandt, noticed a quality unique to drypoint etching that encouraged the use of drypoint entirely to create the image. As the very hard needlepoint scores through the metal surface, metal from the plate is pushed up along the sides of the incision, creating a burr; whereas, engraving tools cuts and lifts the metal cleanly from the plate. Ink is applied in the same manner as etching, then printing is resumed by paper and the press. After printing, the ink-holding quality of these burrs result in a warm, fuzzier line, unlike the sharp, precise lines of regular etchings. Due to the delicate nature of these burrs, however, the drypoint etching will only produce a very small number of good quality prints.

Soft Ground Etching

Like a regular etching, soft ground etching requires an acid-resistant ground to protect the plate and allow for lines to be bitten by acid. However, tallow is added to the ground used in soft ground etching, which keeps the ground from completely hardening on the plate surface. The artist then draws his/her design with a pencil or pointed instrument on a sheet of paper laid over the ground. When the sheet of paper is lifted off, the soft ground, which has a tacky quality, sticks to the paper and lifts off the plate in an uneven manner. These uneven, exposed lines are bitten into the plate. After inking and printing, the line produced has the appearance of a softer, broken line of a crayon – unlike the precise, clean line of regular etching.

Aquatints

Aquatint etchings resemble watercolor paintings in that the prints have fine and subtle gradations in tone. The aquatint ground is mixed into any substance that can be ground down into fine particles, such as resin, asphalt, or bitumen. The particle ground is sprinkled as dry dust onto the plate, which is then heated, melting the ground in an irregular fashion; or it is suspended in a spirit or alcohol as a colloidal mixture and poured onto the plate. As the alcohol evaporates, the ground particles dry in a regular pattern comparable to dried, cracked mud. Therefore, when the plate is dipped in acid, the areas bitten are either the tiny spaces around the particles of melted ground or the network pattern of lines left by evaporated alcohol.

Photogravure

The image of a positive photographic print is transferred by laying the photograph down onto a plate covered with bitumen or other light-sensitive, acid-resistant substances. The plate, with the photographic print on top, is exposed to a light source until the ground hardens in areas where there is white space. The ground is left soluble under the areas of the photograph where the image is dark or delineated. These areas can then be dissolved away with a solvent, leaving the exposed parts of the plate to be bitten and etched in an acid bath, while the areas with hardened ground are left protected. As in other intaglio printing, the plate is inked, and the image is transferred onto paper through the press.

3) PLANOGRAPHIC

The youngest of the three types of printing, planographic, or surface printing, is less than two centuries old, but has recently surpassed relief and intaglio as the most popular method of printing. Lithography is the first and most common method of planographic printing. Based on the principle “oil and water don’t mix,” certain areas of the printing surface can be made to receive or repel ink. The printing surface remains flat and uncut, and is typically made of stone or roughened zinc or aluminum. The image is created with an oil-based medium, after which a series of chemical processes make those areas of the surface accept grease and repel water while the unmarked areas accept water and repel grease. The printing surface is then dampened, water only going into the unmarked areas, and roller with greasy printer’s ink rolls over the surface, ink only going into the marked areas. Paper is laid over the surface with the image inked on it and is sandwiched with backing material and sheets of metal. Then, this is passed on runners under a bar of wood covered in leather (scraper) with downward pressure. However, most modern lithography is printed “offset” by running rubber-covered cylindrical rolls over the inked surface, and then moving right onto the paper.

Lithographs

Pen-and-ink style

The most basic form of lithographic drafting is done with a pen, which uses greasy ink, on a highly polished stone. Larger printing areas are covered by greasy ink with a brush. All areas and lines covered and drawn in greasy ink will then print as solid color on paper.

Chalk style

A lithographic chalk or crayon is used to draw onto a stone that is made rough in varying qualities with varying fineness of sand ground over the lithographic stone. A lithographic stone ground with finer quality sand can be compared to a smooth paper, while a stone ground with larger grains of sand is comparable to a rough paper. When the chalk or crayon is use to draw over these various surfaces, the line quality or shaded area varies from flat and dense to coarse and broken. The areas where the greasy crayon sticks to the surface are the areas upon which the ink will stick and transfer onto paper.

Lithotint

Variation in the strength of greasy ink washes allowed for a watercolor effect in lithography known as the lithotint in the mid 19th century. The greasy ink is diluted with water, which in varying degrees allowed for washes of varying intensities in the final print. Sometimes, small shavings and specks of lithographic crayon are mixed in with the wash to give a more spotted effect within the lithotint area.

Spatter

The spatter technique is done by running a blade across a toothbrush filled with lithographic ink, sending sprays and dots of ink onto the stone in a random pattern. This technique was most famously used by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his lithographic posters and later by Joan Miró. A more refined and controlled method has been calibrated through the use of an airbrush, allowing for a finer spray of dots.

MANUAL PRINTS & PROCESS PRINTS

Until the 19th century, all prints were created by “drawing” the image directly on the printing surface of wood, metal, or stone and are known as manual prints. During the 19th century, technological innovations allowed for the artist to create his/her image on a more amenable surface, i.e., paper, and then transfer this image onto the printing surface through a variety of methods by a skilled printer. These prints are known as process prints. Transfer lithographs straddle these two definitions, as artists would draw the image in lithographic ink (on paper), which could then be used to ink the printing surface of stone or metal. The majority of modern prints are process prints.

Transfer Lithographs

The image for a transfer lithograph is first drawn onto transfer paper, which is coated with a soluble, often gelatin-based, substance. The paper can be polished smooth for pen and ink work or grained to emulate the rough stone for crayon or chalk work. The paper is then wet and applied to the smooth stone or plate. The image, drawn in greasy ink, sticks to the stone or plate, while the paper back and soluble substance could be washed and dissolved away. The remaining areas where the greasy ink has transferred onto the stone will transfer onto the paper in the press.

PAPER

Watermarks

A watermark is a pale pattern, design, or text seen in the paper when held up to the light, and is created in the paper during the paper’s manufacture. The watermark often indicates the year of manufacture and the manufacturer’s identity.

Laid and wove paper

Laid paper was made up until the 1750s by using a wire mesh, the line pattern of which could be seen in the paper when held up to the light. In 1755, wove paper was used in printmaking after a more finely woven mesh was used that did not leave a rigid pattern of lines. The pattern seen in modern day laid paper is most likely a decorative texturing of the surface.

India paper

India paper is a very smooth but delicate paper, which makes it difficult to print upon the paper alone. In intaglio printing, India paper was covered with a dry adhesive and sandwiched between the plate and a larger sheet of heavy paper, to which it became affixed. India paper was used during the 19th century in all three methods of printing.

Coated paper

Coated paper has a smooth texture due to a coating of china clay. Coated paper is used primarily for modern illustrated books, but was more common in the mid to late 19th century for color printing. It first emerged in the 1830s.