Printmaking Notes!!!

Woodcut
Woodcut
Lithography
Lithography
Intaglio
Intaglio
History of printing
Woodblock printing AD 200
Movable type 1040 (1450)
Intaglio 1430s
Printing press 1439
Lithography 1796
Chromolithography 1837
Rotary press 1843
Mimeograph 1876
Flexography 1873s
Offset press 1903
Screen-printing 1907
Dye-sublimation 1957
Photocopier 1960s
Pad printing 1960s
Laser printer 1969
Dot matrix printer 1970
Thermal printer
Inkjet printer 1976
Digital press 1993
3D printing 1986

Intaglio
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint. Collographs may also be printed as intaglio plates. To print an intaglio plate ink is applied to the surface and then rubbed with tarlatan cloth to remove most of the excess. The final smooth wipe is often done with newspaper or old public phone book pages, leaving ink only in the incisions. A damp piece of paper is placed on top and the plate and paper are run through a printing press that, through pressure, transfers the ink from the recesses of the plate to the paper.

Intaglio techniques are often combined on a plate. For example Rembrandt's prints are referred to as "etchings" for convenience, but very often they have engraving and drypoint work as well, and sometimes no actual etching at all.

Intaglio engraving, as a method of making prints, was invented in Germany by the 1430s, well after the woodcut print. Engraving had been used by goldsmiths to decorate metalwork, including armour, musical instruments and religious objects since ancient times, and the niello technique, which involved rubbing an alloy into the lines to give a contrasting colour, also goes back to late antiquity. It has been suggested that goldsmiths began to print impressions of their work to record the design, and that printmaking developed from that.

Martin Schongauer was one of the earliest known artists to exploit the copper-engraving technique, and Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous intaglio artists. Italian and Netherlandish engraving began slightly after the Germans, but were well developed by 1500. Drypoint and etching were also German inventions of the fifteenth century, probably by the Housebook Master and Daniel Hopfer respectively.. Today intaglio engraving is largely used for currency, banknotes, passports and occasionally for high-value postage stamps.

Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface. By contrast, in intaglio printing plate is engraved (engraving), etched (etching) or stippled (mezzotint) to make cavities to contain the printing ink, and in woodblock printing and letterpress ink is applied to the raised surfaces of letters or images. Lithography uses oil or fat and gum arabic to divide the smooth surface into hydrophobic regions which accept the ink, and hydrophilic regions which reject it and thus become the background. Invented by Bavarian author Alois Senefelder in 1796,[1][2] it can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or another suitable material. Most books, indeed all types of high-volume text, are now printed using offset lithography, the most common form of printing production. The word "lithography" also refers to photolithography, a microfabrication technique used to make integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems, although those techniques have more in common with etching than with lithography.

Wood Cut
Woodcut is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges. The areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). In Europe beechwood was most commonly used; in Japan, a special type of cherry wood was used.

Woodcut first appeared in ancient China, where it is called Banhua, but has been most widely practised in Japan and Europe. In China, from the 6th century onwards, woodcut icons became popular in Buddhist texts. Since the 10th century, woodcut pictures illustrated some Chinese literature, and some banknotes.

The art reached a high level of technical and artistic development in East Asia and Iran. In Japan woodblock printing is called "moku hanga", and was introduced in the seventeenth century for both books and art. The popular "floating world" genre of ukiyo-e originated in the second half of the seventeenth century, with prints in monocrome or two colours. Sometimes these were hand-coloured after printing. Later prints with many colours were developed. Japanese woodcut became a major artistic form, although at the time it was accorded a much lower status than painting. It continued to develop through to the twentieth century.


Okay wow you made it through all those wonderful notes. Great now what? Well you do your intaglio prints and get your etch on. You do some relief printing and you get your lithography drawing done. Do that do that do that! Remember that you need to have your drawing done on the aluminum plate by monday night so I can process it on Tuesday (I'm so nice). Alright so go go go!!! Oh and you have a quiz next week on all this wonderful material. If you have any questions and can't get a hold of Gary just email me and I can try to help you through anything if you have any problems or questions. My email is: niketwenty@gmail.com Good luck!!!