Techniques Explained

TECHNIQUES EXPLAINED

For anyone who's ever picked up a paintbrush and a pot of paint, understanding the concept of transferring colours to canvas is pretty straightforward. However, when it comes to printmaking, the techniques involved are not as common to all. So if you are interested to know more, I hope this brief explanation helps.

Drypoint

Drypoint is a printmaking technique where the image is ‘incised’ or scored in the surface of the soft metal or plastic plate, using a hard pointed ‘needle’ of sharp metal, or a diamond point.

The lines of a drypoint have a distinctive soft velvety appearance, as each line has a slightly raised ragged rough edge, known as the burr. 

Both the incised line and specifically the burr will hold the ink. The ink is then transferred to dampened paper when it’s run through the press.

As with mezzotint and lino cut, images transferred directly to paper by the application of pressure result in a reversed image to that on the plate.

Owing to the delicate nature of the burr, drypoint is usually made in small editions, stopping before the burr is crushed by the pressure of the press.

Mezzotint

Mezzotint is an engraving technique developed in the seventeenth century. The term comes from the Italian mezzo (“half”) and tinta (“tone”).

The technique creates prints with soft gradations of tone and rich, velvety blacks, which form the image.

First the surface of the copper printing ‘plate’ is indented by rocking a toothed metal tool across the surface. Each little impression from the ‘teeth’ forms a pit in the surface of the metal. These pits hold ink, which is then transferred to the paper when printed.

The image is created by the printmaker, by gradually rubbing down or burnishing the pitted surface to various degrees of smoothness, to reduce the ink-holding capacity of areas of the plate.

Finally, the surface of the plate is inked and the design is transferred to a sheet of dampened paper by running it through a press. The printed image will be a ‘mirror’ image of that created on the plate.

Screen print

Screen printing is a method of creating an image on a surface, or ‘substrate’ i.e. paper, card, fabric (the list goes on); by forcing ink through a taught mesh which is pulled tight around a wooden or metal frame. 

There are numerous ways to create the image but I use water soluable drawing fluid and screen block to work directly on the screen to create the composition and use acrylic based inks. 

One colour is printed at a time, so the composition needs to be broken down into colours, or colour combinations which are required to create the final image. 

As several colours may be needed to produce the finished print, it’s important to set registration points so the paper and screen are placed in exactly the same place every time.

Water soluble drawing fluid is used to fill in the areas where the ink needs to pass through.

Once the drawing fluid is dry the rest of the screen is then covered with screen block. This dries into the tiny holes in the mesh so no ink can pass through.

When the screen block is dry, the drawing fluid is washed away, leaving clear areas of mesh where the ink will pass through.

To print, the ink is laid in a line on the screen, the sheet of paper is placed beneath it and using a squeegee (a special rubber blade) the ink is pulled across the whole surface of the screen, forcing it through any open areas in the mesh (where the drawing fluid has been washed away).

Once all the prints of this colour have been produced, the screen is cleaned to remove the ink and the screen block and the whole process is repeated for the next colour, until the composition is complete. Typically I repeat this process between 13 to 17 times for each piece.

Linocut

A linocut is just as it sounds – an image is cut into a printmaking block of linoleum, using different sized and shaped cutting tools. 

Images can be monochrome or multi coloured.

Multi coloured prints can be created from the same block using the reduction method - cutting away each colour until the lino plate is destroyed, or by cutting multiple plates – one for each colour used. 

With both methods, the inked up block and paper must be placed in exactly the same place each time a new colour is applied to the print to ensure the colours align.

Areas to remain white on the print are carved from the block first.

Printing ink is rolled on to the raised areas. If creating a multi coloured image the lightest colour is printed first.

Paper is then placed on top of the lino and pressure is applied to transfer ink from block to paper

The paper is removed, with the image appearing in reverse. 

Giclée prints

The word Giclée ("g-clay") is derived from the French verb gicler meaning "to squirt or spray“.

Giclée, is used to describe a fine art digital printing process, typically to reproduce paintings and photographs as limited editions.

The process combines pigment based inks with high quality museum grade archival paper, to achieve prints of superior quality, light fastness and stability.

My paintings are photographed professionally at a high resolution. The images are then printed on a specialist Epson giclée printer, on archival quality Hahnemuhle Matt Fine Art German Etching paper in numbered limited editions.   

Buy my giclée prints
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