Print+Making

toc =What is Print Making?= Printmaking is a form of art. It was the first to introduce multiple copies of the original before photography took place. Although Printmaking never makes an exact copy, yet it is considered to be an easy way to create many originals. Prints are created from a surface that had been cut, itched, engraved. The surfaces used can differ from wood to linoleum to zinc plates to any other material that is workable under the press. Prints are printed on different types of paper, fabric or other material. There is a special type of press that should be used, and the printmaker is required to change the pressure of the press power when using different mediums.

History of Print Making:
The idea of engraving designs goes as back as 3000 BC; it is a known technique to duplicate images. Engraving was founded on cave walls, bones, and cylinders seals. The cylinders were use to create relief designs into clay sheets.

Etchings:
The process of etching was invented by Daniel Hopfer (1470-1536), a German artist who applied different types of etching using an armor he had. In general there are two types of etching. The basic one is etching the zinc plate/or any metal one using a sharp tool like a pin that will scratch the drawing and then rub the ink to go deep inside the scratches. Or the other famous way known as the chemical etching where the plate is cover with asphalt and then the potential design is etched from the black asphalt. Then the plate is placed in Acid which will scratch the design on the zinc plate. The amount of the time that the plate is placed in acid depends on the concentration of the chemical. The longer the plate is placed in acid the deeper it will etch. After it is removed from the acid, the asphalt is cleaned from the plate using oil and the plate is perfectly cleaned from any substances. The printmaker will rub the ink on the zinc plate until it goes inside all the etched design, then the ink is cleaned from the plate leaving only the ink inside the scratches. The plate will placed under the printing press with a paper underneath and running the press will transfer the design, by transferring the ink inside the plate into the paper.



This is an example of a zinc plate and a print from zinc plate.

Linocuts:
Working with linoleum has an opposite process than the working with the zinc plate. The main difference is that colours are opposite. The white part is presented by th4e cut part of the linoleum, where the black part is the inked surface. For the zinc plate the ink is rubbed using a rag or a piece of fabric, but a special kind of roller is used for the linoleum plates. Where in zinc plate the ink is rubbed to go inside the plate, in linoleum the ink is carefully rubbed making sure that the ink is not transferred to the cut part of the piece. The tools used to cut are special kind of knife that can create cuts in different shapes and designs.



Linoleum pieces come in different colors, and it has a plastic feeling, yet it has to be heated to achieve the rubbery feeling which is easier to work with.

A printmaker is rubbing the ink on alarge peice of linoleum using a roller.the white part of his design is the part he cut using his linoleum cutter/knife.

The transformation of the design into paper usning the press.

Lithographs:
The process of printing from a small rectangular stone on which the image that is to be black is ink-receptive and the blank area is ink repellent. The stone is covered with a piece of paper and then it is run under the press with a light pressure.

The stone is ready to be run under the press.

A stone and a print from the stone.

Mezzotints:
This method of printing was introduced by a German professional soldier Ludwig von Siegen (1609-c1680). Mezzotint is the first printing process that introduced the tonal range of blacks without using hatches or lines. It is an engraving process in which the entire surface of a copper plate is roughened with rocker stamping, and then worked on with scrapers and burnishes to crush the grain, bringing up highlights in a subtle range of half-tones. The tools used with the copper plates are a scraper which has a triangular ending, and the burnisher has a smooth round end, thus achieving the best tonal range using them.

Burnisher tool

Mezzotint scrapers

A Mezzotints print.

a lot of details can be achieved usning this method of printmaking

Woodcuts:
Woodcut was first known in the 9th century in china, but it was not until the 13th century when it was adapted by western artists. Chinese and Japanese woodcut prints created a very important shift in western art because it introduced artists to a new form of culture they never knew it existed. Thus during the 14th and the 15th century it has created the greatest impacts on the western art production. Like linoleum, the carved away parts of the wood block are the background and the remaining part is what will be printed on the paper. The process of this printmaking is almost the same as the process for linoleum but the pressure set of the press should be set to higher number. When printed, the woodblock gives an interesting texture that already existed on the woodblock, unlike the flat linolium Examples of the a cut design in the woodblock

cut, inked, printed

Some printmakers like to experiment different colors by cutting one part at the time, printing it, then cut more, and print on top of the existed print.

In the process of cutting layersto creat colours Japanese woodcut prints. Japanese printmakers are very professional in making details out of a very complicated medium like woodcut.

Sources:
images:
 * http://www.robotacid.com/images/dalek2.gif
 * http://www.ecohaus.com/graphics_products/linoleum_lg.jpg
 * http://docart.com/FaeryLand/images/Mvc-148l-lg.jpg
 * http://www.ironworksgraphics.com/linoproof.jpg
 * http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Litography_press_with_map_of_Moosburg_02.jpg
 * http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Litography_negative_stone_and_positive_paper.jpg
 * http://www.iconarts.com/images/Supplies/Burnisher.jpg
 * http://www.lclark.edu/~jhart/undatedMtoZ/meltmomentsm.jpg
 * http://www.mcescher.com/Gallery/back-bmp/LW344.jpg
 * http://www.finewoodcuts.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/archdetriomphe.jpg.w300h267.jpg
 * http://www.woodcut.com/how/block_c1.jpg
 * http://www.woodcut.com/how/block_c3.jpg
 * http://www.woodcut.com/how/block_c5.jpg
 * http://www.woodcut.com/how/block_c6.jpg
 * http://nimbupani.com/portfolio/images/woodcut.jpg
 * http://homepage.mac.com/bdelpesco/.Public/Ebay/pasadenabridgeprocess.jpg
 * http://www.foodmuseum.com/images/wat03.jpg

Information: Main information is from Printmaing class Art and Art hisroty program UTM-Sheridan.
 * http://www.adachi-hanga.com/hp_english/en_what-is-woodcutprint_index.htm
 * http://www.the-artists.org/graphics/woodcut.cfm
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcut
 * http://www.uam.ucsb.edu/Pages/trevey/glossary.html
 * http://www.evabreuerartdealer.com.au/print.html
 * http://www.maitres-des-arts-graphiques.com/-GPT.html
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etching
 * http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/Graphicartists/generalities/Historyofprintmaking.htm
 * [|]http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Holman/english/art-making/index.php3
 * http://www.the-artists.org/search/prints-h.cfm
 * [|]http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-28323/printmaking
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking