On more than one occasion I have had to dash the hopes of an eager novice art collector with the news that the recently acquired artwork they had inherited or found at a yard sale was not an original artwork at all, or even an original print. What in fact they had acquired was a reproduction – sometimes a high quality, signed reproduction, but more often than not just a reproduction.

Printmaking is still one of the most difficult art media to understand, partly because of the variety of techniques used and partly because of an ever-expanding technology which enables new printmaking techniques to emerge and be accepted. Mostly though, there is confusion about what constitutes an original print. This confusion is further exacerbated by galleries and artists who either deliberately or through their own ignorance sell mechanical offset lithographs (reproductions) under the guise of signed original prints or signed limited edition prints.

Galleries and artists sometimes see an opportunity to make fast money by photographically reproducing a popular painting. It may be a good quality reproduction on high quality paper, but it is still a mechanical reproduction. The artist will in turn sign and number a quantity of these reproductions and they are sold as limited edition prints. Eager buyers see what they perceive to be an ideal opportunity to own an original piece of art by a well known artist, at a very reasonable price. They purchase these reproductions only to find that their value as an original artwork is non-existent.

It is sometimes easier to explain what an original print is not. It is not a reproduction where an original painting is photographed and then mechanically printed en masse resulting in what is essentially a poster. An original print is also not a copy that has been quickly churned out at the press of a button. The whole process involves artistic input from creation to completion. A number of carefully honed skills are needed to produce an original piece of fine art at a fraction of the cost of an original painting or drawing.

So what IS an original print? First there must be distinction made between ‘original print’ and ‘limited edition print’. The two terms are not synonymous. An original print is a limited edition print but a limited edition print is not necessarily an original print. Let me explain.

A mass-produced, photo mechanical reproduction, or a poster is also a limited edition print. These are generally produced in the thousands but every process has a maximum number, hence ‘limited’. The artist may decide to sign and number some of these. This is also often in the thousands and should be the first indication that this is not an original print.

The traditional techniques in fine art printmaking only allow small editions. By working closely with the materials and processes of the medium, the artist creates a number of prints, usually less than 100 depending on the technique used, before the plate, stone or screen starts to deteriorate. After the edition is run there are no further prints made of this precise image. If a set of prints are identical, they are known as a limited print edition. Editions of twenty prints are each numbered in pencil in the margin 1/20, 2/20…along with the artist’s signature and title. Care and skill is required to print a consistent edition as each print is printed by hand, taking a great deal of time. More colours will require more work!

There are four main printmaking media – Etching, Lithography, Screen-printing and Relief printing. As a painter may choose between oil paint or watercolour, the artist-printmaker chooses the medium which offers the desired effects and working method. To better understand the original print it is helpful to understand the process used in each of the main printmaking techniques.

This is the oldest and most basic of printmaking techniques. It includes wood cuts, wood engraving, linocuts and the most basic of all processes, stamped prints. Woodcuts can be made on planks of wood as well as plywood. The artist draws a design on the wood and carves away the wood in the areas that are not to be printed. The raised surfaces are then inked with a roller or brush and paper is placed over the inked surface. Pressure is applied by hand or press to transfer the ink from the wood surface to the paper. Often the wood grain becomes an element of the final print. For more than a couple of colours, separate blocks must be carved for each, then lined up, or ‘registered’, for a precise image.

Wood engravings are created in a similar manner to woodcuts. They, however, are carved from the end grain of a piece of boxwood. Boxwood does not grow very large and therefore the prints are generally small. Because of the smooth uniform surface of the end grain, a wood engraving does not show the texture of the wood and the carving can be very detailed. In the past this method of printmaking was used extensively for book illustrations.

Linocuts are yet another method of relief printmaking. They are carved on battleship linoleum, which is more easily cut than wood and eliminates any grain.

The most simple of relief printmaking are stamp prints. They include potato block prints, finger prints and rubberstamp prints. These are created by simply applying ink or paint to something and transferring it to the paper or any surface to be printed.

This method of printmaking is the opposite of relief printmaking. Instead of a raised surface being printed, the recessed areas hold the thick printer’s ink and the rest of the plate or printing surface is wiped clean. Intaglio printmaking includes the traditional methods of dry point, engraving, etching, aquatint, and mezzotint. The basic principles are the same. A plate, usually copper or zinc, is marked, scratched, gouged, etched or otherwise indented. A thick printer’s ink is rubbed into the plate and the plate is then wiped clean. This requires considerable skill. The marked, or incised areas, will retain the ink. A printing press is necessary to apply sufficient pressure to transfer the ink from the plate to the dampened paper. As with relief printing, each added colour requires an additional plate which has to be carefully registered to insure a clear image.

Dry point engraving and mezzotint are intaglio methods where the images are scratched (dry point), gouged (engraving), or in the case of mezzotint, rocked directly into the plate surface. With etching or aquatint the plate is marked by acid biting into the surface of the plate. Here the plate is protected with acid resistant wax and the wax is scratched in the areas. The deeper the mark, the more ink it will hold and the resulting printed area will be darker.

This technique was invented in 1798 and is the basis for today’s commercial printmaking process. As a fine art medium it still holds a great appeal to many artists. In this medium the artist draws directly onto a specially prepared surface of limestone, aluminum or zinc (traditionally limestone). The artist uses the surface just as he/she would a paper, using a greased or waxed crayon or a greasy drawing ink called tusche.

After the drawing is complete the artist treats the surface with a mixture of gum Arabic and dilute phosphoric acid. This reacts with the surface which will accept the oil-based inks used to print. Lithography is again a demanding process. The stone used during the printing must be kept damp and then rolled up with oil based inks used to print. The image can be lost if the water is too acidic or basic, or if the stone is allowed to dry. When the image is inked, the paper is placed over the stone or plate. The plate, paper and a greased plate are run through a press. This press is different from an intaglio press as rollers are replaced by a scraper bar made of plastic or wood. As with the other print media, each individual colour requires a new stone or plate and must be carefully aligned to create a clear image.

This is the only printmaking medium where the image is worked on as it will be seen. (In the other printing techniques the printed image is the mirror image of the plate, stone or wood from which it was taken.) Screen printing is a form of stencil printing created in the early 1900s and gained popularity by the 1920s. A finely woven fabric, often nylon, orlon or silk is stretched over a wooden frame. The areas that are not to be printed are blocked out of the screen or fabric by varnish or glue. Sometimes photo emulsion films are used to replace the hand painted process. After all the areas to remain untouched by the ink are covered, a paper is put under the screen and ink is squeezed through the fabric using a rubber squeegee. Large editions can be made using this process, but again, each colour requires a new screen and multiple printing.

Print Making (opens new window)