WHAT IS A PRINT?   WHAT IS AN ORIGINAL PRINT?

 

The technologies available today for reproducing paintings and drawings are numerous and varied, and often produce images of outstanding quality. These kinds of prints can be produced on paper, canvas or other surfaces. Some of the terminology used to describe these prints include offset lithograph, gicleé, laser copy, bubble jet, thermograph, and xerography. The colorfastness of the inks is often very good. All of these processes are done by some sort of machine, automatic press, or camera (the hand of the artist is not involved in the image-making); the print is a copy or reproduction of the original.

An original print is created by pressing paper (or other material) to an inked plate, stone, screen, or block that has been worked by the artist. There is no "original piece" that is mechanically copied. Instead, the artist develops the image directly on the plate, stone, screen or block in order to create, by hand, a "pattern" which will in turn be used to make the original print. Each print created is signed and numbered by the artist, and the total number of prints made is called an edition. This method of making art is called printmaking and the various artworks created are original prints.

There are four main categories of printmaking that may produce multiples - Intaglio (most commonly etching), Relief (wood or linoleum block), Lithography, and Silkscreen (also called Serigraph or Screenprint). Two other methods produce one of a kind prints - monotype and monoprint.

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ETCHING

An etching is created by pressing a piece of paper to an inked metal plate which has an image etched into its surface. This image is created by the artist with a process that uses a strong acid to "eat away" selected parts of the metal plate. The printing is done by working ink into the etched grooves, and then wiping the raised surface of the plate clean. A soft damp paper is placed over the inked plate and passed through a special etching press which forces the paper into the grooves. When the paper is lifted from the plate it pulls the ink from the grooves, producing a print of the etched image in the plate. The inking, wiping, and pressing are repeated, by hand, for each print created.

 

SILKSCREEN

This type of original print is made by forcing ink through a stenciled screen onto paper. A very fine mesh fabric screen is tightly stretched on a frame. Portions of the screen are blocked out (with some kind of coating) to leave an open area that the ink can pass through. A piece of paper is placed under the blocked out screen, and a squeegee is used to force ink through the open part of the screen onto the paper. A different screen and blocked out "pattern" is used for each color in the silkscreen. These different patterns are layered one on top of another to "build" the image. The giraffe to the right used nineteen different screens (therefore it has nineteen colors).

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