A Few Printmaking Techniques You Should Know About
When we think about art, printmaking has a unique place. The technique of printmaking emerged from the 1st century AD China from the reign of the Han Dynasty.
Some people think that printmaking is limited to creating some copies of the original artwork. Well, it’s not true. Printmaking is a technique through which images are replicated onto different materials like fabric, metal, wood, or other surfaces.
In this article, we would be talking about the most common printmaking techniques used worldwide.
Woodcut:
It is known as the earliest printmaking technique. In the 15th century, the woodcut technique was used to create copies of images and text. Later, the printed word started reaching the masses and the technique itself became the art form of its own.
Woodcuts involve the process of carving an image into the surface of a piece of wood and then coating the rest part with the ink. The inked surface is placed on a paper and pressure is applied using a printing press or a roller. The pressure then creates the print.
Woodcut is also considered a subset of relief printmaking where ink is applied onto a surface to create a pattern that one wants to appear on the print.
Engraving:
This technique of printmaking falls under the subset of ‘intaglio’ which is quite similar to relief printmaking method mentioned above. However, the incisions in the engraving are made on the surface in a way that the ink on the design stays in incisions, and then it is transferred onto paper to deliver the desired results.
The term “intaglio” came from Italian word intagliare which means “to cut in”. In this technique, incisions are carried out by carving by hand with the help of a handheld steel tool with a sharp tip.
Lithograph:
In this kind of planographic printmaking, the designs are made on flat surfaces. This technique originated in 1798 in Munich. Lithographs are created using a big slab of limestone, a metal plate, where the images can be drawn by using multiple steps that involves liquid-etch solution, resin, gum arabic, talcum powder, and mineral spirits.
These are also multi-color art prints that were in wide commercial use during the 1860s. The oils that are used in lithographs enhance the quality of the picture. The technique uses color palette, many woodblocks, and stones of different colors.
Offset:
It is a subset of planographic printing in which the inked image on a plate is crafted on a rubber cylinder and then relocated to a printing surface. Offset is one of the most common offset printing used to create prints of fine art, books, brochures, magazines, and newspapers.
Besides, serigraph, monotype, etching, giclee, and linocut are some other famous types of printing. You can explore many online galleries to find modern art pieces for sale that use the above-mentioned printing technique and offer unique canvas art pieces.
