Printmaking
An Original Print is not an identical copy of a piece of artwork, but a piece of fine art in itself. The printmaker uses a range of artistic skills and judgments throughout the whole process from creating the blocks or plates, choosing and mixing colours and controlling the variables in the printing process. The result is an original piece of fine art, usually for a fraction of the price of an original painting or drawing.
All the images on this site are original prints. This means that they are not reproductions but artworks in their own right. They are produced from plates made by hand and printed by hand on an etching or relief press in the print workshop. They are all signed on the bottom right-hand corner and titled and numbered on the bottom left corner.
Printing Techniques
Intaglio Printing
The image is built up by grooves and areas, which lie below the surface of a metal plate, usually copper or zinc. To take a print, ink is pushed into the grooves, and the surface of the plate wiped clean. The plate is put onto a press bed with dampened paper on top, and then run through the press under pressure, drawing the ink out of the grooves and onto the paper. Intaglio prints are often characterised by an embossed line around the image, which is made by the edges of the plate.
Drypoint
Dry point is the most direct of all intaglio techniques. A sharp dry point needle and usually a metal plate, is all the materials required. Scratching the metal surface with a sharp point produces the image and this raises a burr on the plate. The burr holds the printing ink and prints with more effect than the incised line itself, which is quite shallow and holds less ink. When the burr is new, the print has rich dark blacks, but after a number of prints the burr will break off and wear down. It is likely then a drypoint print will have a relatively small edition run because of this limitation.
Carborundum Prints
Carborundum is grit that is normally used for grinding things. It comes in coarse, medium and fine grades and can be sprinkled onto a plate covered in adhesive to create a dense texture that will print as a velvety and rich tone.
Other processes: Etching, Engraving and collagraphs can be printed using the intaglio method.
Relief Printing
This process uses the surface characteristics of any material. It is the most direct form of printmaking. It is not even necessary to have a press. The image can be built up using a wide variety of objects pasted onto a board in low relief, the surface of which is inked. A print is taken by placing the paper on top and either rubbing the back or by running through a press.
Collagraphs
A collagraph is a print made from a collage but it has become a more general term for mixed-media printmaking. It is an experimental form of printmaking, which utilises a plate that has been made in various ways to create a textured surface that can be printed in either intaglio or relief (or both). The finished plate is inked up to print the intaglio (indented) surface by rubbing ink all over and taking the excess off with a cloth and this is printed using a press where the pressure forces dampened paper into the indentations of the plate to pick up the ink and create an image of the textures of the plate.
Monotypes and Monoprints
A monotype is a single print pulled from a glass or metal plate on which ink or paint has been applied. The image can be transferred to paper by hand rubbing or with a press. A monotype remains one of a kind because it contains no repeatable matrix in the image from which a perfect second impression can be made.
A monoprint begins with a repeatable matrix in the image, such as an etched plate, which could, if desired, be editioned to produce a series of like impressions. What gives the monoprint its singularity is the process of subsequent hand colouring or doctoring to make it uniquely different or a one of a kind print. A series of monoprints - all derived from the same plate, but then individually hand manipulated - is often called a unique edition and is signed and numbered accordingly.
Other processes that use this method are: Woodcut, Linocut and Wood engraving.
All the images on this site are original prints. This means that they are not reproductions but artworks in their own right. They are produced from plates made by hand and printed by hand on an etching or relief press in the print workshop. They are all signed on the bottom right-hand corner and titled and numbered on the bottom left corner.
Printing Techniques
Intaglio Printing
The image is built up by grooves and areas, which lie below the surface of a metal plate, usually copper or zinc. To take a print, ink is pushed into the grooves, and the surface of the plate wiped clean. The plate is put onto a press bed with dampened paper on top, and then run through the press under pressure, drawing the ink out of the grooves and onto the paper. Intaglio prints are often characterised by an embossed line around the image, which is made by the edges of the plate.
Drypoint
Dry point is the most direct of all intaglio techniques. A sharp dry point needle and usually a metal plate, is all the materials required. Scratching the metal surface with a sharp point produces the image and this raises a burr on the plate. The burr holds the printing ink and prints with more effect than the incised line itself, which is quite shallow and holds less ink. When the burr is new, the print has rich dark blacks, but after a number of prints the burr will break off and wear down. It is likely then a drypoint print will have a relatively small edition run because of this limitation.
Carborundum Prints
Carborundum is grit that is normally used for grinding things. It comes in coarse, medium and fine grades and can be sprinkled onto a plate covered in adhesive to create a dense texture that will print as a velvety and rich tone.
Other processes: Etching, Engraving and collagraphs can be printed using the intaglio method.
Relief Printing
This process uses the surface characteristics of any material. It is the most direct form of printmaking. It is not even necessary to have a press. The image can be built up using a wide variety of objects pasted onto a board in low relief, the surface of which is inked. A print is taken by placing the paper on top and either rubbing the back or by running through a press.
Collagraphs
A collagraph is a print made from a collage but it has become a more general term for mixed-media printmaking. It is an experimental form of printmaking, which utilises a plate that has been made in various ways to create a textured surface that can be printed in either intaglio or relief (or both). The finished plate is inked up to print the intaglio (indented) surface by rubbing ink all over and taking the excess off with a cloth and this is printed using a press where the pressure forces dampened paper into the indentations of the plate to pick up the ink and create an image of the textures of the plate.
Monotypes and Monoprints
A monotype is a single print pulled from a glass or metal plate on which ink or paint has been applied. The image can be transferred to paper by hand rubbing or with a press. A monotype remains one of a kind because it contains no repeatable matrix in the image from which a perfect second impression can be made.
A monoprint begins with a repeatable matrix in the image, such as an etched plate, which could, if desired, be editioned to produce a series of like impressions. What gives the monoprint its singularity is the process of subsequent hand colouring or doctoring to make it uniquely different or a one of a kind print. A series of monoprints - all derived from the same plate, but then individually hand manipulated - is often called a unique edition and is signed and numbered accordingly.
Other processes that use this method are: Woodcut, Linocut and Wood engraving.