Printing Techniques
drypointIn this case the artist uses a hardened metal point or diamond tipped needle to scratch a design into a metal plate. The line scratched into the plate throws up a ridge or burr of displaced metal. Ink is then placed in the scratch mark and on the two burrs of metal, creating a fuzzy edge to the line when transferred to the paper. |
engravingThe artist, often using copper plates, cuts an image into the surface of the plate using a steel graver or burin. The tools used in this process have an extremely sharp tip and produce only two types of marks, a line or a dot. |
etchingUtilizing this technique the artist uses a copperplate that has been coated with a ground of asphaltum and beeswax. A needle is then used to create lines directly in the asphaltum surface. The plate with its design is then submerged into a bath of nitric acid. The acid then bites into the areas of the plate that are not protected by the asphaltum surface. Unlike the process of engraving the softer surface area of an etching offers very little resistance to the artist's needle. |
heliogravureA procedure by which printing plates are used to reproduce images through the use of light and etching technique. The image is photographed and the negative is used as a mask through which light is focused on a metal plate coated with light sensitive emulsion. Wherever light strikes the plate, the emulsion hardens. The plate is then washed, the water removes the emulsion that has not been hardened by the light. The plate is then submerged in a acid bath that bites away the bare portion of the plate. The remaining image stands "in relief". |
woodcutA process known as engraving, because engraving tools are used to cut away the unwanted portion of a wood block. The remaining lines in the surface area of this wood block stand "in relief." Color is then applied to the remaining surface and paper is pressed against the relief. |
lithographIn this process the artist draws an image onto a stone, aluminum or zinc plate with a greasy crayon. Water is then applied and ink is spread over the surface. The ink stays on the greasy image but the remainder of the surface, covered in water, repels the ink. The paper is then placed on top of the plate and the image is absorbed. |