bare bones art
 
Sharri LaPierre, Printmaker, Painter
 
PRINTMAKING TECHNIQUES & LINGO
RELIEF: the surface which is left on the matrix is printed FOUND WOOD PRINTS: Found, or scrap, wood that is printed relief as is, or with limited carving and shaping. (Mine are printed in the Japanese manner, i.e. watercolor & rice paste.) WOODBLOCK (Western): Wood, which is carved and inked with a roller or brayer and put through an etching or lithography press. WOODBLOCK (Japanese): Wood, which is carved and inked with water color mixed with rice paste and applied with brushes. They are most often printed with a bamboo covered Baren. Also referred to as Moku Hanga, which translates to “wood block print”. WOOD ENGRAVING: The image is carved into wood or resin product using engraving tools. It is printed either by press or baren. LINOLEUM BLOCK: Linoleum material which is carved and printed relief on a press. FOILOGRAPH: The plate is made by placing articles on a plexi plate and covered with foil. It is printed on an etching press. INTAGLIO: The image is incised into copper, zinc, steel, or plexi and printed with ink which is spread across the matrix and then the surface is polished with tarlatan to leave ink only in the lines of the image. It is printed using damp paper on an etching press. ETCHING: The image is incised into a metal surface by submersion in an acid bath. DRYPOINT: The image is incised into the surface using a drypoint needle and raising a burr along the line which also holds ink. Drypoint tends to leave a softer line than an etching and its reproduction is limited because no metal has actually been removed. MEZZOTINT: A copper plate is roughed up with a rocker and when it prints a rich dark black the image is created by smoothing that surface back by burnishing. It is worked dark to light. SOLARPLATE™: The image is created by blocking areas of a light sensitive steel plate and exposing the plate to UV light. It is developed in tap water and printed on an etching press. AQUATINT: A method of creating tones from dark to light. It is etched into a metal plate using acid. COPPER ENGRAVING: The image is cut into a copper plate with engraving tools PLANOGRAPH: The image is developed on a smooth surface & transferred to paper by pressure. MONOTYPES: Pigments are painted, stenciled, stamped onto a smooth surface such as plexiglas, metal or glass, and then put through an etching or lithography press. ( Can be printed by hand, but requires a lot of pressure). As there is no fixed matrix it is possible to get only one print. Often a ghost print from the small amount of remaining pigment is pulled, but is treated differently from the main print. SERIGRAPH: A fancy name for SILKSCREEN. A stencil process whereby the ink is forced through polyester mesh onto paper. LITHOGRAPH: the image is etched onto stone or a ball milled aluminum plate. The plate or stone is kept wet and the print is the result of the theory that oil and water don’t mix. MISCELLANEOUS MONOPRINT: This can be any of the printmaking techniques (except monotype) and is the result of a fixed matrix being printed in such a way that there is only one, i.e. it is not consistent with those of an Edition. COLLAGRAPH: The matrix is built much as a collage, using matboard, fabrics, cardboard, metal, textured surfaces, you name it. It is built up from the substrate, made waterproof by using acrylic medium and printed intaglio. CHINE COLLE´: A method of adhering a thin paper to the image by placing it, glue side up, carefully on the plate or block after the final inking. Then the print paper is carefully lowered onto the print and pressure is applied, binding the two together seamlessly. Original meaning: chine = China and collé = collage.