PRINTMAKING glossary of printmaking terms

albemum: constituent of egg white used in glair also, with the addition of potassium dichromate as a light sensitive solution suitable for plates or paper.

aquatint: an intaglio process in which (traditionally) rosin powder was fused to a zinc or copper plate in the form of an aquatint ground. When etched this gave a variety of fine tones. The sugar lift [qv] is a variation on this process. see INTAGLIO section or search for a keyword on the HOME page

burin: an engraving tool

block: usually refers to a wood block used for cutting or engraving but is also a generic term used in relief printing, which may refer to a wood block with the addition of a photoengraved plate mounted on it.

collotype: invented by William Fox Talbot in 1852 and used in industry for many years to print high quality work with fine detail. The process originally employed a glass plate covered in photosensitive gelatine. The beauty of the print lay in the fact that, to the naked eye, there was no grain in the image, magnification would however, reveal a fine grain typical of a collotype.

collograph: This is a very simple and inexpensive form of printing, which is favoured by artists and those teachers of children alike. By using anything from mounting board to any form of flat board a various materials can be applied and glued in the form of a collage. When the glue is dried the "plate" can be treated as either an inaglio or relief print depending on the way the material was applied. It can then be printed through an etching press, relief press or simply printed by using a barren or spoon to rub the back of the paper.

deckle / deckle edge: the rough edge of mould made paper (possibly two sides) or hand made paper (possibly four sides) caused by the pulp creeping out between the paper mould and the frame during paper making.

digital: often referred to as giclée printing when using a high quality inkjet printer. Digital printing could be by laser printer or any ink jet printer, there are also examples here where a Tectronix printer with coloured wax is used rather than ink.

etching: an intaglio process where lines are etched or bitten into the surface of a zinc, steel or copper plate [see the INTAGLIO section]. Also see this section for Galv etching.

engraving: there are two catagories of engraving - wood engraving [qv] and engraving onto metal. Copper is most commonly used for the latter and there are variations in technique, such as stipple engraving. [see the INTAGLIO section]

Inaglio: any process that uses a press to force the paper into the lines or other marks that have been engraved, scored, cut, etched etc. into the surface of a plate. Drypoint, etching, stipple engraving, engraving and mezzotint are all intaglio processes.

Lino cut: This is a relief printing process. It has the great advantage that it can be cut easily with a knife or chisel and it has no grain direction like wood. Vinyl floor tiles are a good and readily available substitute but they may have to be glued to a wood block in order that large sections can be cut away and that the tile retains its integrity.

Lithography: This is a planographic process and relies on the fact that grease and water repel one another. [see the LITHOGRAPHY section]

Mezzotint: An inaglio process where a plate is covered with small indentations that hold the ink. [see INAGLIO section]

Monoprint: A single rather than an editioned print, which can be printed with or without a press. [see MONOPRINT section] It could also be a screenprint made by drawing with pastles on the screen mesh. [see SCREENPRINT section]

Relief print: A print produced from a raised surface after cutting, engraving or moulding. This could be a woodcut, wood engraving, lino cut or any other material.

Screen print: this is a planographic process where ink is squeezed through a stencil atatched or integrated with some form of mesh. [see SCREENPRINT section]

Serigraph: another name for a screenprint.

Soft ground: a particular type of etching; an alternative to a hard ground. The former responds to pressure and a design can be drawn onto the surface through the intermediary of a sheet of tracing paper. [see the INTAGLIO section, page 2]

Stipple engraving: [see an example in the INTAGLIO section] An engraving tool is used to flick out small marks in the copper as opposed to the line that is incised in a standard engraving.

Sugar lift: a variation on the aquatint process where the image is drawn with a brush onto an aquatint with a liquid made from sugar. A ground is rolled onto the prepared surface and when it is soaked in warm water the sugar disolves and lifts the ground, leaving the exposed image as an aquatint, which is etched in the normal way.

Woodcut: A relief print made from the "plank" of the wood, usually fruit wood. [see RELIEF section]

Wood engraving: A relief print made from the end grain of a wood block. In appearance engravings may look finer and more detailed than wood cuts but this is more typical of twentieth century printmaking techniques and it may be somewhat harder to distinguish the two types of print that date from earlier periods. [see RELIEF section]