Printmaking is an art-making discipline like painting or sculpture.
Printmaking creates original art
images that are printed in
editions, or a limited
number series of prints.
Each print made wears on the plate, so that after a certain number of
images are made, they are no longer of good quality. The
plates or blocks used
to make the image are then retired or destroyed so that no more can be
made. This is why there is only a very limited number, and each one is
numbered in the order it was printed. This is shown in a fraction: the
bottom number is how many total prints were made in the edition, and the
top number is which one that particular print is. This is written, along
with the signature, under the image.
If you see “AP”, it
means artist proof, a
print the artist originally saved for him/herself. My APs are usually
identical to the numbered prints. If you see “TP”,
it means trial proof,
and is usually slightly different from the numbered prints.
Block Print:
usually done with wood or linoleum blocks; non-image area is cut away,
leaving only the image surface raised above non-printing areas. The ink
is usually applied with rollers; may be printed with a press, a baren, a
rolling pin or a wooden spoon. Remember the potato prints from
kindergarten? For a better description of my method,
click here.
Screenprint or
Serigraph:
The image is created by pushing the ink with a squeegee through a fabric
mesh screen that has a stencil attached to it to define where the ink
goes. This is also a method widely used commercially (how many concert
t-shirts do you own?), but the fine-art version is called a
serigraph.
Etching or
Intaglio:
the metal plate is etched or incised with a corrosive agent to create
pockets or lines to catch the ink. The non-image surface of the plate is
wiped clean. The press pushes the (usually damp) paper into the pockets
to pull out the ink. There is a distinct embossed plate edge called the
plate-mark.
Giclée printing
is not a form of
printmaking.
Giclée (pronounced “jhee-CLAY”)
prints are a form of
high-end digital art reproduction, and are always made from a digital
file and printer. You can print as many giclees as you want, though
often a limited edition is offered in order to make the prints
themselves more valuable as an investment.
This type of print is made from a
digital file captured
from an original work of art, in my case a painting, and printed with a
high-quality ink-jet
or digital printer, with archival and light-fast inks on high-grade
paper (it may even be the same paper that a printmaker uses, but the
processes are entirely different).Part of the value of the
giclee comes from the
type of paper used as well as how faithful the image is to the original
work of art.
The image capture is
done with a high-resolution
scanner or camera
by a digital-image specialist, who then manipulates the file information
to reproduce the original art as closely as possible.
This is NOT the same as printing out a picture from your computer at
home; your ink will
fade quickly, your
paper has acid in it that will make it brittle, and
your printer is not as
sensitive to the details of the digital file.
