PRINTMAKING TERMS

Aquatint Prints
Fine particles of resin that is acid-resistant are placed on the plate, it is then heated as to adhere to the surface of the palte; it is immersed in acid which bites into the plate. The tiny pits in the plate hold the ink and when the plate is printed it give the effect of watercolours.

Drypoint
Scribing directly on the copper plate with a sharp metal point creates a rough ridge of metal often called 'burrs'. When the plate is inked, the burr catches the ink, where more burrs are the darker the print will be.

Etching Prints
A metal plate often copper or zinc is coated with a varnish-like coating called the 'ground' which acid can not bite through. The artist creates an image by scribing this surface with an etching needle, thus exposing areas of metal. The whole plate is then immersed in acid until the exposed lines are sufficiently bitten. This produce grooves in the metal that will hold the ink. The ground is then removed, before the plate is printed.

Intaglio Prints
The lines of the design have been created by scribing the plate, as in engraving or etching. The lines are sunken grooves in the plate.

Linocut Prints
Lino which is a soft rubber-like material commonly used as a floor covering. Linocut is a relief printmkaing technique similer to woodcut.

Lithograph
The design is created on a lithographic stone with a greasy crayon-like medium or ink. Water adheres to the bare stone and not the greasy areas, and ink does the opposite to this. Ink adheres to the greasy areas and not to the wet stone thus producing the print.

Mezzotint Prints
A copper plate is worked over with a rough, evenly spiked tool called a 'rocker' until the plate surface is thoroughly roughened. The artist working from dark to light then smooths out area's with a scraper to produce tone. The smoother the area is the less ink it will hold.

Monotype Prints
Ink or paint is applied to a smooth plate. Because there is no design scribed into it as such, only one solid impression can be printed.

Relief Printing
The image is produced from the raised areas of a carved, etched, or cast block or other solid material. The printing surface stands in relief above the rest of the block.

Screenprint or Silkscreen Print
Silk or synthetic mesh is stretched tightly over a wooden or alloy frame. A stencil is adhered to the fabric often by a photosensetive emulsion this blocks the non-printing areas. The image is created as the paint can pass through the open mesh by force with the aid of rubber squeegee.

Softground Etching
A piece of paper is placed over a special soft etching ground. The design is drawn with a pencil on the paper. The pressure of the pencil causes the ground to adhere to the back of the paper, recording the pressure of the artist's hand. When the paper is peeled from the plate, it takes with it the ground which adhered to it. The plate is then bitten with acid, the remaining ground is removed, and the plate is inked and printed.

Woodcut
The areas around each line are cut out of the block of wood so that the lines to be printed stand out in relief.

Solarplate Printmaking
A form of Printmaking and an intaglio printmaking process process that uses ultraviolet light (often just the sun, hence the name) to harden a light sensitive ground to produce etching-like plates for printing.

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Printmaking Methods
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Printmaker Forum



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WHAT IS PRINTMAKING?
Printmaking is the fine art of using a printing plate or other suitable suface to create one or a series of multiple prints most commonly printed on paper. Printmaking comes in many various forms including: Monotype Printing, Relief or Block Printing such as Woodcuts & Linoleum Printing, Drypoint Etching, Acid Bite Etching such as on Zinc or Copper plates. Silk Screen, Lithography, Intaglio, Aquatint, Mezzotint, Engraving, Solar Plate Etching, Collagraph and Relief Printing.
The Printmaking terms above will explain each of these to you.



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