What is an original print?

Printmaking describes the process of making artists' original prints - not to be confused with commercially published or gicleé reproduction prints which, even though they may be signed and numbered, are merely copies of existing artwork and therefore of little intrinsic value. 

Traditionally, an original print involves the artist preparing a plate, block, stone or stencil which is then inked by hand, or using a hand-operated press, on to high quality paper. The artist is thus able to take a number of impressions of a particular print. This is called an edition; the prints are then individually titled and signed by the artist. 

The main printmaking methods are listed below. Printmakers may use more than one method to make a print.

relief prints 

Take a potato, cut it in half, cut a design into it, spread ink or paint on it, press it onto a piece of paper and you have a print - and you can do it again and again. The same process, using linoleum for the block, produces a linocut. Cutters can also include power tools. The block is inked with a roller. You can print with a press, or by carefully rubbing your paper onto the inked block with the back of a wooden spoon. The parts cut away remain white and the parts left behind will print the colour you chose.

Right - Press

On reduction linocutting the whole edition is printed in the first colour. Further areas are carved away from the block for each successive colour.

Left - Tessa Charles Linocut (of boat)

The same process worked along the grain of a piece of wood (eg: birch or birch ply) produces a woodcut.

Right - Jennie Ing Reduction Linocut of St Pauls

Wood engraving 

uses the end grain of a block of hard wood, (eg: box) which allows much finer detail. Engraving tools are used to create a very fine finely worked print. Nowadays engravers also use plastics.

Left - Nicky Browne Woodcut

intaglio prints

The different forms of intaglio printmaking give a wide range of subtle and striking effects. For all of them an image is made by making indentations in a plate. Ink is then put into these grooves and the result is printed onto damp paper which is forced down into the plate with a heavy etching press.

Right - roller press

Left - Paula Vokes Etching

The various etching techniques use an acid (e.g.: nitric, ferric chloride) or mordant (e.g. copper sulphate) to bite into the plate (copper, zinc, aluminium, steel). A wax coating or hard ground is put onto the plate and the image is scratched through. In soft ground the printmaker can either draw onto paper laid over the plate, taking some of the ground with it. Or, can press textures into this soft waxy surface before etching the plate in the acid or mordant. Other effects can be made using aquatint or liftground. An image can also be made photographically.

Right - Ginette Gillard Etching and Aquatint 

Left - Janet Wolchover Etching & Aquatint 

Other intaglio methods include the collagraph. The image is built up by gluing together different materials and textures. Carborundum powder can also be glued onto a plate to give additional tones or can be used on its own (carborundum print). 

Right - Vicky Oldfield Collagraph 

A drypoint is made from an image scratched directly into a metal or plastic plate. 

Left - Anne Crawford Drypoint

A mezzotint comes from a copper plate which has been carefully roughed-up with a toothed rocker. This would print a deep, rich uniform black after inking. The image is then brought out by burnishing and scraping away areas which will then print lighter

Right - Audrey Curran Mezzotint

monotype

A monotype is an image taken from a flat plate that is painted, rolled or itself, printed with ink. This is generally printed using an etching press. A monotype is completely unique. A few more similar prints can sometimes be made by re-inking the image. These similar prints are called monoprints. 

Left - Tessa Pearson Monoprint 

lithography 

To make a lithograph the artist draws with a special waxy crayon onto a fine-grained limestone block or a specially grained zinc plate. After further preparation, the stone is dampened with water - after which an oil-based ink is rolled on. This adheres only to the drawn areas and is repelled by the damp stone. The stone or plate is then printed using a very high pressure press (stone) or an offset press (zinc). 

Right - Anne Hickmott Lithograph

screenprint 

Screenprinting is based on the ancient art of stencilling. For each colour a separate stencil is applied to a taut screen of fine fabric mesh. The stencil can be made of paper, masking fluid, or photographically. Thick ink is poured onto the top of the screen and pressed with a squeegee through the open areas onto the paper beneath. 

Left - Barbara Bernard Screenprint

Digital prints

Digital printmaking enables traditional printmaking methods to be integrated with computer generated imagery. If the image is an artist's original limited edition print then Richmond Printmakers would consider it to be eligible. Digital printmaking can be a contentious area! Acceptable prints, and those with a value, do not include unchanged reproductions of other media such as gicleé prints of paintings