An art form known for its prominence during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods has made a recent comeback as new developments in printmaking techniques emerge. The concept of producing more than one copy of the same image while still maintaining an hands-on artistic integrity is cause for many artists to get their hands dirty with inks and acids and their bodies hot and heavy using presses and screens. While printmaking is a subfield of visual art, it itself is a very general term employing various practices and media. The following are categories or types of printmaking that each employ their own set of techniques.
Intaglio
Intaglio is a family of printmaking in which a surface is incised either by an object or acid erosion. Zinc and copper are the most commonly used types of plates, and nitric acid and ferric acid are used respectively. Engravings and dry point prints are created using using a hard point needle to scratch into a surface that can metal and often times plastic.
For the printing process, ink is applied and then rubbed into the incised, scratched or eroded parts of the plate and the smooth surface is then cleaned. A high pressured printing press pushes wetted paper into the incisions and thus the inked image transfers onto the sheet. Intaglio was popular during the 16th and 17th centuries and was often used by artists such as Rembrandt.
Screen printing involves pushing ink through a blocking stencil on a mesh screen. The ink goes through the portions of the screen that are not blocked off and onto the paper, thus forming the images. The number of colors and layers used to make the cohesive image are limitless, but most often artists use between two and ten colors.
The screen, made with silk stretched over a wooden or metal frame, can be one of many mesh counts with the lower mesh counts being suitable for fabric and canvas while the higher count is preferable for paper and other smooth surfaces. This form of printmaking is the newest compared to the others and is used in both fine art and commercial work.
Lithography
Lithography is based on the concept that water and oil repel each other. An image is drawn onto a porous plate, such as limestone, with a greasy medium and then acid is brushed on to "burn" the grease into the surface. Afterwards, a water soluble solution called gum arabic is used to seal the non-greased portions of the drawn image. The plate is then wetted and the water is repelled by the positive greased areas, staying only on the negative. An oil based ink is rolled onto the plate and with water present on the plate, it only adheres to the grease.
To print, a sheet of paper is placed face down onto the plate and both are put through a litho press. The ink transfers onto the paper and thus a print is made. Several plates that are registered can be used to create multicolor prints, making some look more intricate and more vibrant than many paintings. Lithography is the ideal form of printmaking for capturing a variety of shades and gradations.
Monotype/ Monoprint
Forms of printmaking with the prefix "mono" are those that are one of kind. Monotypes are prints made from painting or drawing on a smooth surface such as plastic or glass while monoprints are made using a matrix such as a silkscreen or a litho stone. Printing a monotype is done by applying pressure of a plate and sheet of paper directly and then the plate no longer has the initial image, thus each print is truly unique. Since monoprints use absorbent surfaces, traces of the image stay on the plate even after printing, creating more of a variable edition with each print being slightly different from the other.
These forms of printmaking are often described as painterly or spontaneous as the amount of precision that is required in other printmaking families tend to have little use. Monotypes and/or monoprints are also efficient for transitioning a traditional painter into printmaking practices.
Relief
Relief printmaking is best described as the opposite of intaglio as it involves cutting away the negative areas of an image compared rather than relying on the smooth surface to be the negative. The left over protruding leftover matrix is instead used to form an imprint of an image. This is done on a variety of plate types such as woodblocks or linoleum, with the initial surface being flat. The negative components of the image are cut away making the plate and ink is rolled onto the remaining surface.
Making a relief print does not require much pressure compared to intaglio and lithography, so the ink transfer can be done with a press or by hand. From there, multiple cut plates can be registered to make a multicolor print. Some of the most well known of these types of prints are the Japanese woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries, which would involve a team of people to create.
Suggested Links
Daniel Smith Printmaking Supplies
Museum of Modern Art Print Page
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