Printmaking techniques

The term « print » refers to art works printed from a matrix or matrices developed by an artist or under his/her supervision.  These matrices allow inking and the transfer of ink onto the work’s final support, generally sheets of paper.  Prints usually exist in editions of a number of copies, as inking can be repeated identically, or with variations.  Matrices are produced using different procedures that fall into the following overall categories :  relief printing, intaglio printing, collagraphy, lithography and serigraphy.

Please consult complementary document:  What is a relief printing? (PDF in French and English)

Relief printing

Relief printing techniques involve using tools to engrave a support – a wood block, linoleum tile or certain plastic materials.  The valleys carved out of the matrix are intended to be white when printed since the ink rests on the intact upper surface of the block.

Collagraphy

Collagraphy is a procedure whereby the necessarily uneven surfaces of a print matrix are created by collaging various materials onto the plate.  The most common method is to generate a matrix on a cardboard support, but a plastic plate can also be used.

Lithography

This printing technique is based on the principle of grease repelling water.  The procedure creates two zones on a limestone surface or metal plate which stand out due to their antagonistic properties.  The areas of the drawing are produced with grease media :  they repel water and attract ink, while the untouched areas retain water when they are damp, preventing the ink from adhering during printing.

Serigraphy

This technique consists in ink passing through a silk screen that has been partially obstructed to print forms on the paper below.  Each colour needs a different printing, so the silk can be washed and used again.  The ink is applied uniformly with a squeegee, while the frame holding the silk screen is solidly fixed on the printing table.

Intaglio printmaking

« Intaglio printmaking » refers to all those methods of etching or engraving on metal plates, usually copper or zinc, where the grooves retain ink while the upper surface is meticulously wiped clean. There are two major technical approaches : direct engraving and acid-bath methods.

Direct engraving

In direct engraving, the metal is directly engraved with such tools as burins, dry-points, roulettes, or mezzotint rockers.

Burin Engraving

With its extremely sharp tip and a mushroom-shaped handle for dexterity, the burin tool produces clean lines, raising metal shavings in the process. Burin techniques were originally developed to reproduce the visual qualities of masters paintings and drawings, but today are used to create works of expressive originality.

Dry-Point Engraving

The dry-point needle has a round metal shaft with a sharp point. It ploughs through the metal, raising a burr on either side of the line. This fragile metal burr holds ink during printing and gives the line a soft, blurred quality. However, the burr tends to wear down under the pressure of the press, so this method produces only very small editions unless the plate is steel-plated through electrolysis.

Roulette Engraving

A number of tools bearing a small cylinder or wheel produce textures or dotted lines according to the pattern or tiny teeth or points on the wheel’s edge or the cylinder’s rolling surface.

Manière Noire or Mezzotint

This process produces fine tonal nuances in images that can be aesthetically characterised as chiaroscuro. First, the plate is uniformly stippled using a rocker with a curved, serrated blade. The teeth in the rocker create tiny cavities and burrs, which retain the ink and impart the velvet black characteristics of this technique. This grainy texture would produce a uniform black if printed. When the copper plate is fully textured, the artist goes on to create the drawing by scraping the burs with a scraper for grey tones, and polishing the surface with burnishers to erase the indentations left by the rocker, thereby obtaining whites.

Etching

This term refers to those methods by which metal plates are etched in acid. To make the matrix, the metal must be protected by varnish for white areas, and exposed where the drawing must by bitten by acid. The prepared plate is then immersed in an acid bath and the metal etched more or less deeply, depending on the duration and strength of the bath.

Aquatint

This method is used to obtain tones of grey, uniform shades of black, and wash effects. To create the fine textures that will retain ink in the densities needed for modulations of grey, the printmaker first covers the plate with a uniform dusting of powdered rosin. The plate is then heated to melt the rosin and fix it onto the surface. The artist defines the forms of the drawing by protecting white areas with varnish, and then places the plate in the acid bath. The granular texture of aquatint is created when the acid bites the tiny exposed areas between the rosin particles. Printmakers achieve various grey tonalities according to the duration of the acid bath. Wash effects can also be obtained by applying the acid onto the rosined surface with a brush.

Soft-Ground Etching

Imprints from fabric or other textured materials can be created with this technique. To do this, the artist applies a varnish that is rendered more adhesive by adding tallow. The desired material is then placed on the varnished plate, and pressure applied so the varnish detaches from the metal and sticks to the material’s relief. The printmaker may then dip the plate in the bath, where the acid etches the exposed imprint marks. When inked, this imprint appears in positive form.

Sugar Lift

This variation of aquatint was developed so the brushed application of varnish could be rendered positive when printed, as opposed to the classic aquatint method, where varnish is applied to the white areas of the design. The artist proceeds in two steps. First, the drawing is created by brush, using a viscous solution of water saturated with sugar or corn syrup. When the drawing is nearly dry, the entire surface of the plate is covered with a thin layer of liquid hard ground. When this varnish is dry, the plate is immersed in a warm water bath which softens the sugar and lifts the varnish over it. The metal corresponding to the drawing is exposed, while the rest remains protected by the ground. To heighten the design’s black or greys, the artist applies rosin powder to the plate and proceeds with the aquatint etch.

* Extract from Code of Ethics for Original Printmaking, 2nd edition from the Conseil québécois de l’estampe, by Nicole Malenfant et Richard Ste-Marie, 2000, 65-69.

EGG TEMPERA

Tempera (or egg tempera) is a type of artist's paint and art techniques that was known from the classical world, where it appears to have taken over from encaustic and was the main medium used for panel painting and illuminated manuscripts in the Byzantine world and the Middle Ages in Europe, until it was replaced by oil painting in Europe. It has remained the required medium for Orthodox icons. It is paint made by binding pigment in an egg medium. However, the term tempera in modern times is also used by some manufacturers to refer to ordinary poster paint, which is a form of gouache that has nothing to do with real egg tempera.

One can know by washing breakfast dishes that egg yolk dries quickly and adheres firmly. Tempera was traditionally created by hand-grinding dry powdered pigments into "egg yolk (which was the primary"binding agent or medium), sometimes along with other materials such as "honey,water,milk (in the form of casein) and a variety of plant gums. Many of the "Fayum mummy portraits use tempera, sometimes in combination with encaustic. Around the year 1500, oil paint replaced tempera in Italy. Tempera continued and continues to be used in Greece and Russia. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there were intermittent revivals of tempera technique in Western art, among the "Pre-Raphaelites, "Social Realists, and others.

Tempera paint dries rapidly. The techniques of tempera painting can be more precise when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a"cross-hatching technique. The colors, which are painted over each other, resemble a pastel when unvarnished, and are deeper colors when varnished.
Tempera is normally applied in thin, semi-opaque or transparent layers. When dry, it produces a smooth matte finish. Because it cannot be applied in thick layers as oil paints can, tempera paintings rarely have the deep color saturation that oil paintings can achieve. On the other hand, tempera colors do not change over time, whereas oil paints darken, yellow, and become transparent with age.