Printmaking is one of the oldest fine art forms known to man.  Essentially, any object or surface can be inked and transferred to another surface through pressure, creating a print. Remember the cut potato stamps we used to make as kids?  That’s a print.

As a fine art, printmaking traces its history to the Orient, and is responsible for some of the most exquisite, lasting works of art in existence.  Fine art prints have a unique, timeless beauty, a life of their own, that comes as much from the medium as from the subjects of the works themselves.  Although the image is worked differently in each process, the print is usually formed in the same way, by placing an inked image  plate face up on a press, covering it with a paper and running them together through a printing press, transferring (printing) the image to the paper.  The technique that precedes the printing press is still in use today in the orient and involves applying pressure by hand, using special tools or stones. This is an over-simplified explanation of the art of printmaking, which involves a great deal of skill on the part of the artist in preparing and inking the plate (the actual “work”) for printing.  The plate is of different materials depending on the technique being used. Special, high-quality printmaking papers are normally used for the printed artwork.

An embossing is made by building surface textures on a plate and printing the “image”, without ink, leaving only the impression of the image on the paper.

A collograph is an embossing that has been inked before printing.

Giclee is a common term for fine art digital prints of paintings and photographs made from an inkjet printer, resulting in reproductions of very high quality   Many speak of ‘prints’ of an artwork, when what they are referring to is giclees.  When speaking of prints, in reality, one should be referring to works of printmaking, which is a time-honored art form that should not be confused with reproductions.

Chine collee (French for ‘glued a la Chinese’) means originally a lithograph printed on a paper that has been collaged to a second sheet of paper. The technique is often used to attach an original work to another, larger piece of quality paper, by gluing the back of the original to the larger sheet and passing the two upside down through a printing press on a sized piece of mat board.  The art is attached firmly and when the mat board is removed, it leaves an embossed ‘frame’ around the original. It is a presentation technique that adds a touch of sophistication to a work, especially of small proportions.

Some common printmaking techniques are: etchings, monoprints and monotypes, embossings, collographs, wood cuts, linotypes, and rubbings.  I will present the tools and materials for each of these and a few finished works, with a brief explanation of each process.  I will demonstrate a monotype and a way to chine collee a work using materials one has on hand in the home, for those who do not have access to a printing press.   Come back soon...