What is printmaking?

A glossary of print and printmaking terms and process information

Printmaking is any art form that involves transferring one image from one surface to another.  Most often, this includes a "printing plate" or some kind of matrix, being pressed onto paper. 
Various printmaking methods that I have investigated in depth include: 
intaglio:  etching, acid techniques such as line, aquatint, soft ground, lift ground, embossing; Non-acid techniques include:  engraving, dry point, mezzotint, crible

relief:  wood engraving, wood cuts, linocut, rubbings, etching, collagraph, embossing, stamping

Stencil or serigraphy:  Silk screen, screen printing, stencils, and rubbings are the only printmaking methods that do not involve working in a mirror image (backwards).  Screen printing involves creating a stencil that will block out ink being pushed through a fine fabric screen.  The screen is stretched over a frame.  A stencil design is adhered to the screen, and a thin layer of ink is pushed through the screen with a squeegee.  Serigraphy is a fine art term for screen printing.

intaglio print:  Refers to many processes involving incising the printing plate with lines or shapes.  The image is cut into the plate by the use of acids or tools.  When the image is complete, the artist/printmaker applies ink to the surface of the plate, pushing the ink into the lines and crevices of the plate.  Next, the ink remaining on the surface is wiped off carefully to prevent ink from being lifted out of the plate’s recesses.  The plate is then pressed onto printmaking paper, which transfers the image.  Usually, this printing requires an etching press to provide the intense and consistent pressure needed to push the soft rag paper into the recesses of the plate to lift the ink out. 

relief print:  Relief printing is the opposite of the intaglio method.  The top surface of the plate is inked, and ink is omitted from the grooves; therefore, the indented areas do not print with color.  The top surface of the plate makes contact with the paper and transfers the image.  Rubbings can be created from most relief plates.  Simply place a thin piece of paper over the plate surface and rub the side of a drawing stick(s) (crayon, color pencil, charcoal, graphite).

monotype:  A painting on a smooth plate is pressed and transferred onto printmaking paper.  This allows the artist to manipulate the ink differently and in many more ways than if they applied the ink directly to the paper. 

collagraph:  Collagraphs are created by collaging (adhering) textures onto a printing plate, usually made of Masonite, mat board, or plexiglass (acrylic sheets).  The surface is inked, usually as an intaglio plate, but also be treated as a relief plate.  The textures are receptive to ink in various ways, and a wide variety of surfaces can be created. 

monoprint:  Monoprints are one-of-a-kind prints that have a certain characteristic that is inherent in all the prints it creates.  If an artist creates monoprints from an etching plate, for example, each print should be treated very differently with the use of inks, ink colors, masking, or the use of other plates in combination to create a "unique" print.  Other techniques or processes may be involved to make this print different from all others. 

edition print:  This involves creating many prints with the same plate(s) that create virtually the same image.  Each print will be very consistent in technique and method.  This group of prints is numbered in consecutive order and signed by the artist in a limited edition.  You will notice two numbers, one above the other.  Example:  14/75.  This would represent the fourteenth print of an addition of seventy-five prints.

“Mixed-process” printmaking is a phrase I coined to describe my innovative approach to creating prints.  I combine several processes in one print, usually about six different processes. These printmaking processes may include:
various etching techniques, dry-point, monotype, collagraph, various relief processes such as woodcut, Linoleum, and collagraph (as a relief surface), stenciling and masking, and a special offset technique related to “counter-proofs”, photocopy transfer, embossing and digital printing. 

Counterproofs were used extensively by Edgar Degas in conjunction with his famous monotypes.  Degas discovered that he could make good use of his time and energy with the unique qualities of the printmaking process.  A freshly printed print can be virtually used as a printing plate.  He would place another sheet of printmaking paper on top of the freshly printed print. He would run the sandwiched papers together through the rollers of an intaglio printing press.  The fresh ink would transfer a ghost (slightly lighter) image onto the new print paper, in a mirror image.  The reversed image would help in accessing the composition, seeing it backwards as in a mirror. Awkward or unbalanced features would show up and be more obvious to the artist.  Degas would often work (draw) over these counterproofs with masterful dry pastel layers. Many of his beautiful pastel drawings are drawn on top of these monotypes.    

- Douglas E. Taylor   1995, 2020, 2021 ©