What is a Print?

An artist must create a master image on stone, copper, zinc, or any other material used for making the original print. The print should be inked and hand pulled by the artist. And each impression is hand signed and numbered by the artist. An original print goes through the same creative process and utilizes a specific set of skills needed for that process, and is as valid as any other form of visual art. The original print holds it's own as a work of art.

Types of Prints

There are three general areas of printmaking: Intaglio method, relief method, and planographc method. Below are some brief descriptions and information which may help you understand more about the variety found in printmaking.

Intaglio Since before 16th century people have scratched designs on stone, wood or animal skins. By the beginning of the 16th century printmaking artists were using better materials and refining their pictures by dampening paper and pressing it against a metal plate covered with ink to transfer the design. Nothing much has much changed since then. The areas to which are printed are incised by cutting, scratching or etching on a matrix with a tool. Then the plate is rubbed with ink . After heating the plate sufficiently for the ink to melt into the grooves, the plate is put on the etching press, covered with dampened sheet of printmaking paper which a been soaking in water and blotted dry. Once the paper and plate are laid together, they are pulled through the press with enough pressure to leave a design within the margin of the paper. The plate is wiped clean.

Engraving - A design is cut into the copper plate using a burin tool. After inking the plate surface is wiped clean and ink remains in the lines for printing.

Drypoint - Using a copper plate again, the design is drawn with a steel needle. During the carving a burr is left on the ridge of the carved line . When the plate is inked this burr holds a bit more ink and creates a soft line, slightly blurred which is very characteristic.

Etching - the surface of the plate is coated with an acid resist ground. Then the artist draws an image onto the ground until the copper is exposed. Using ferric chloride for copperplates, the plate is then submerged in the acid bath which bites the drawn lines into the plate. When the artist is pleased with the results the plate is cleaned inked and printed.

Mezzotint - the surface of the plate is roughened with a metal tool called a rocker. The small teeth of the rocker creates tiny burrs that hold the ink during the printing and create a deep rich black print. The areas that are scraped and burnished hold less ink and produce lighter tonal area values.