Major Print Making Processes
Intaglio
The process of incising a design beneath the surface of hard metal or stone. Plates are inked only in the etched depressions on the plates and then the plate surface is wiped clean. The ink is then transferred onto the paper through an etching press. The printing is done with a plate bearing an image in intaglio and includes all metal-plate etching and engraving processes. The reverse of this is known as relief printing.
Planographic
The Process to print impressions from a smooth surface rather than from creating incised or relief areas on the plate. The term was devised to describe lithography.
Relief
All printing processes in which the non-printing areas of the block or plate are carved, engraved or etched away. Inks are applied onto the projected surface and transferred onto the paper. The reverse is known as intaglio printing.
Print Making Techniques
Please note that all of Waterside Arts prints are produced using one of the first three methods.
Giclee or Iris
A computerised reproduction technique in which the image and topology are geerated from a digital file and printed by a special inl jet printer. Giclee printing offer the highest degree of accuracy and richness of colour unavailable in other reprodtion techniques. All of Waterside Arts giclee prints are printed on Hannemuhle 310gsm watercolour paper using lightfast inks.
Silkscreen or Serigraphy
Silkscreen is a variation of a stencil process. In stenciling a shape (often cut from paper) is recreated on another surface by dabbing ink or paint through the cut out space. In silkscreen, fabric (originally silk, now more commonly nylon or polyester) is stretched tightly on a rigid frame, which becomes a screen or support for the stencil. This fabric is made by weaving which produces a sequence of small holes throughout its surface, it is these, which will allow the ink or paint to pass through it and create an image.
Aquatint
Printing technique capable of producing unlimited total graduations to recreate the broad flat tints of ink wash or watercolour drawings by etching microscopic crackles and pits into the image on a master plate, typically made of copper or zinc.
Blind
Printing using an uninked plate to produce the subtle embossed texture of a white- on-white image, highlighted by the shadow of the relief image on the uninked paper. This technique is used in many Japanese prints.
Collograph
Printing technique in which proofs are pulled from a block on which the artwork or design is built up like a collage, creating a relief.
Drypoint
Printing technique of intaglio engraving in which a hard , steel needle incises lines on a metal plate, creating a burr that yields a characteristically soft and velvet line in the final print.
Engraving
Printing technique in which an intaglio image is produced by cutting a metal plate or box directly with a sharp engraving tool. The incised lines are inked and printed with heavy pressure.
Etching
Printing technique in which a metal plate is first covered with an acid resistant material, then worked with an etching needle to crate an intaglio image. The exposed metal is eaten away in an acid bath, creating depressed lines that are later inked for printing.
Lithography
Printing technique using a planograohic process in which prints are pulled on a special press from a flat stone or metal surface that has been chemically sensitised so that ink sticks only to the design area, and is repelled by the non-image areas.
Mezzotint
A reverse engraving process used on copper or steel plate to produce illustrations in relief with effects of light and shadow. The surface of the master plate is roughened with a tool called a rocker so that if inked it will print solid black. The areas to be white or grey in the print to be rubbed down so as not to take ink.
Monotype
One of a kind print made by painting on a sheet of glass and transferring the still wet painting to a sheet of paper by hand or with an etching press. If enough paint remains on the master plate, additional prints may be made, however, the reprint will have substantial variations from the original print. Monoprint is not a multiple replica process since each print is unique.
Woodcut
Printing technique in which the printing surface has been carved from a block of wood. The traditional block of wood is seasoned hardwood such as apple, beech or sycamore. A modern trend, however, is to use more inexpensive and easily attainable soft woods such as pine. Woodcut is one of the oldest forms of printing first used by the Chinese is the 12th century.
