What is an original Print?  Read and also watch videos in our video section which show different ways of printing visually and our Spotlight Artist is a Printmaker.

The artist's hand

An Original Print is an image printed by the artist or an assistant. The image on the plate is hand made by the artist. They are also known as Artists' Prints. Prints made from blocks or screens are also included.

Limited editions

A limited edition is not necessarily an original print, although most original prints these days are limited editions!

Limited but not 'Original'. The number of reproductions printed of artists' paintings or photographs are limited by the publisher or the artist. The publisher undertakes to produce a pre-determined number of the reproductions, thus retaining control over the quality and distribution of the print. This sometimes results in increasing its value both at the first release and in the second collector's market depending on demand. They may be commercially produced lithographs, screen prints and various other methods of printing. The prints may be signed by the artist, but not necessarily.

The number of prints and the size of the edition are indicated by a numerical fraction.
17/100 would tell you that that the prints are limited to 100 copies, and that this is the seventeenth of the run. In the case of an original print, the prints will often be made a few at a time until the limit is reached. Up to 10% of the number of the edition can be trial prints made before printing the edition and can be sold as Artists' Proofs. The Plate may subsequently be modified and these may therefore be unique. This is indicated by A/P. The artist may also decide to make another edition using the same plate in a different colour-way or by altering the plate in some way. Some types of plate are more susceptible to deterioration than others, making the earlier prints of an edition more desirable in some instances.

Different methods of Printing

Wood Cut

Wood cut is where the wood used is cut with the grain to produce the surface to be worked. The texture of the grain can be used as part of the image and the grain can influence the flow of the cut.

Wood engravings are made, usually of boxwood, cut across the grain, the end grain becoming the working surface.

It is cut with a gouge called a burin. This very smooth and stable surface will allow extraordinary degrees of detail in the hands of a skilled artist or craftsperson. Very fine and detailed examples of early wood engraving are often seen in book illustration, although now they are more often made as stand-alone works.




Lithographs


The printing process which creates a lithograph is different from other traditional methods. Most printing presses require the printmaker to etch an image or text into metal plates or physically carve out the image on blocks of wood or other soft material. To create a lithograph, however, no etching is required. The artist uses a set of greasy crayons or pencils to draw a mirrored image of the original artwork onto a smooth stone tablet. This is by far the most time-consuming part of the lithograph process.

After the image has been recreated to the satisfaction of the original artist or other authority, it is ready to be turned into a lithograph. The lithographic process hinges on the principle that oil and water cannot mix. An oil-based variety of ink is applied directly to the plate and immediately bonds with the equally greasy crayon lines. Water is then wiped onto the remaining unpainted areas to discourage the ink from smearing. A sheet of paper, preferably one with a high cotton content, is then placed over the entire plate.

The inked stone or metal plate and the paper are placed in a press and light pressure is used to transfer some of the ink. If the original image were a monochrome pen and ink drawing, this would be the only press run necessary. A color lithograph of an elaborate Van Gogh painting, however, might require several different runs with up to four different color inks -- black, red, yellow and blue. The same paper would be placed precisely over the re-inked plates, eventually creating a satisfactory lithograph copy. This same process is used to create color pages in newspapers.

Since the process for creating a lithograph can be just as time-consuming and detailed as an original painting, printing runs are often kept low to preserve value.

 
Lino-cut

Lino-cuts have a style of their own too. Again the white parts of the image are cut away leaving the raised part to produce the image. Due to the ease of cutting into this rather softer material, there is a freedom of movement which can produce quite spontaneous looking images, whilst retaining clean edges to the cut. It can also be
very bold when large smooth areas are left for printing. Board can also be used in this way.

Colour prints can be made using several plates and printing them one after another, carefully lining them up with the image already made by the previous print. This is known as 'register'. Another method used in lino cutting for colour prints is to progressively remove more of the surface to make the next layer of colour so that, with each layer the previous layer has been permanently destroyed. You have to be sure how many prints you want with the first layer, and print them, as that part of the plate will no longer exist once you move on!


Intaglio

Ink in the dips

Intaglio is the term used for any plate that produces the inked part of the image from grooves or textures made in it. The ink is applied with a pad (a dabber) to fill the grooves and is wiped from the surface. Damp paper is placed on the plate and the ink transferred to it under pressure. The pressure required is much greater than that needed for relief printing. The depth and size of the pit holding the ink will determine the amount of ink transferred and the degree of texture achieved. Great subtlety of tone can be achieved as well as textured qualities.

The paper is soaked and allowed to return to 'damp' in order to allow the stretching required to be pushed into the hollows and around the edges of the plate. A 'sandwich' of the inked plate, the damp paper, protective tissue and a very soft wool blanket is made and the whole is passed through the press. The blanket allows the paper to be squashed into the grooves and around the edges of the plate. The 'plate mark' often referred to when looking at old prints is the mark made by the edge of the plate.

Let's look at some of the ways of making intaglio prints.

Engraving

Engraving is the term used when the lines or dots are cut out of the material (wood or metal) using a burin. A burin is a hand tool used by cutting into the material to gouge out the hollows. The width and depth of the line is controlled by the hand of the artist.
Various means are employed to achieve the semblance of light and shade in the finished print. Lines of varying width, parallel lines, cross-hatching and dots are used. It is a very labour intensive process, early engravings taking many weeks and months to complete. It was formerly used in the publication of books and prints, but is now mostly used by artists fascinated by the medium. As etching came into being, so a mixture of the two techniques was widely used in publications of all sorts, engraving providing crispness and accent and etching providing tone and the main design.

Drypoint

The artist draws directly onto the metal plate with a sharp strong needle. As the metal is not being cut away, but scratched, burrs appear at the edges of the line which soften it. As impressions are made of the print, so these little burrs are worn away and the character of the print changes. For this reason, editions of drypoints will often be quite small. However, sometimes the artist will deliberately smooth away the burrs to gain the effect they want. Etchings and engravings will sometimes have elements of drypoint in them.

Etching

Etching is the eating away of metal by immersing it in acid to produce the recessed areas. The variation in the depth of line or texture is controlled by the length of time the plate is in the acid. The plate may be immersed numerous times and washed off as further work is done on the plate. Enormous variation in tone and texture is possible in etching by using different methods of protecting parts of the plate from the acid.

Etching is marvellously varied in the ways of keeping the acid from the parts which need to be lighter, each of them producing very different effects. There can be mixed methods used on a single plate, and can also be combined with engraving and drypoint.

The simplest method is to prepare a metal plate of copper or zinc by applying a coat of wax or resin (known as a 'ground') to protect the parts not to be 'bitten'. The artist then draws with an etching needle directly onto the plate exposing the metal, and puts it into the acid. This can be done repeatedly, so that the lines drawn are etched by degrees. With each dipping the earlier lines will become deeper and wider and therefore produce a darker area than those lines added later. The longer the immersion the deeper the bite.

Soft ground is used when the desired effect is similar to that of a pencil mark. The even coating of soft wax can be overlaid with a thin tissue and the drawing done on it. When the tissue is pulled away, it pulls away the wax stuck to it, leaving traces on the surface and giving a soft edge. The pressure applied in the initial drawing will affect the amount of wax removed. Artists can also press textured materials such as cloth and sandpaper into the ground to make tonal areas. Marvellous, isn't it?

 

Aquatint

Aquatint requires the artist to think in areas of tone. The resist is a powdered resin melted onto the surface of the plate. The distribution and size of the powder grains will determine the delicacy or roughness of the etching, both qualities being desirable depending on the subject and desired effect. The variation in tone is achieved by 'stopping out' lighter areas bit by bit, immersing in acid repeatedly, taking 'proofs' until the required image is gained. Test strips can be made to ascertain the length of time needed to gain the depth of tone for different areas. Varnish is generally used for stopping out. The tone changes can be very subtle with many stages. Completely smooth or white areas are stopped out before the first dunking in acid.

A plate can be made using aquatint exclusively, or by combining with other methods to make the finished image.

By now we begin to see why the artist's hackles rise at the term "just a print" and I have hardly touched on the details!

Mezzotint

The mezzotint plate is first prepared by making the surface rough. A rocker or wheel with lots of tiny points is run back a forth over the plate until an even velvety looking surface is made. If you were to print it at this stage it would be very deep black all over. A burnisher is then used to bring back areas of the plate to white. Infinite levels of tone and half-tone can be made by varying the amount of polishing back to smooth. Effects of almost a photographic or sprayed quality can be achieved.


Giclee

Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The term  "giclee print" connotes an elevation in printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, & Hewlett-Packard. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets. Giclee prints are sometimes mistakenly referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints from a printer pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics.

Giclee prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. Another tremendous advantage of giclee printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client.