Printmaking
Although most of my work is in the field of glass engraving and glass sculpture, I also devote a sizeable portion of my creative effort to printmaking. Many of the images I use for my engraved glass are subsequently worked up into printing images, and vice versa.
The printmaking techniques which I use mostly are:
Etching using the technique of cutting away a resist on a copper or zinc plate and then using an acid bath to develop the image. There is a considerable control by using different resist techniques, as well as the time for which the acid is allowed to act, as well as the depth of inking and the pressure of the press.
Etching is an intaglio process- that is, it is the areas hollowed out by the acid that retain the printing ink which is transferred to the paper.
Woodcut, where the image is cut into a block of a fine-grained hardwood which is then inked and printed.
Linocut, where the image is cut into the softer texture of linoleum, which is then printed in the same manner as a woodcut.
Both woodcuts (xylography) and lino-cuts are examples of relief printing - it is the raised areas left behind after the cutting which take up the ink for printing
Lithography is a surface printing technique which relies of the mutual repulsion beween oil and water. A particular species of limestone is drawn on with a waxy crayon or ink, and is then wetted. The water "takes" only is the un-drawn areas; when greasy ink is rolled onto the stone, it is repelled by the water and sticks only where the original greasy drawing was done, hence reproducing the original drawing
Monoprint or Monotype. The above techniques are all capable of producing editions, that is, multiple copies which are usually numbered in sequence. Monoprinting is drawing or painting directly onto the etching plate before printing in the press. It therefore produces a unique image, more akin to painting. Monoprinting may be combined with conventional etching, but the result is always an edition of one.
Page last updated 11 September 2014
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