Common Terms & Vocabulary
Burr
Displaced material thrown up when any sharp point (usually a tool called a
needle) is used to draw into a plate. In a method of platemaking
called drypoint, the burr clings to the incisions and
creates distinctive soft lines in the print.
Chine CollŽ
A method of printing in which an image is printed on a thin sheet of paper and
the thin sheet is mounted on a backing sheet during a single pass through the
press. The term also describes the process of using a press to mount paper or
other collage material such as cloth to a backing sheet, sometimes with printing
on it.
Drypoint
A way of drawing directly into an intaglio plate
without using acid. Any abrasive or invasive mark can be a drypoint
mark, but generally the artist draws into a plate with a sharp tool called a
needle. The displaced material clings to the lines in what is called a burr.
The burr is mostly above the surface of the plate and holds ink irregularly. A
printed drypoint line is rendered more or less fuzzy
depending on how the plate is wiped.
Edition
The prints of any particular image that are offered
for sale. Editions normally are printed from plates made to hold ink in the
same way each time they are inked. Consequently, prints in an edition (even
though printed by hand) are very similar to one another, if not exactly the
same. Each limited edition print conventionally bears a fraction-like
designation, with the number of prints in the edition on the
bottom of a slash mark, and the serial number of the particular impression on
the top. Most fine art print shops do not use the serial number to designate
the order in which the prints were pulled.
Prints are labeled under the image, left
to right: # of print / # in
edition, title (if applicable), signature and date.
Intaglio
A method of printing in which the image is printed
from below the surface of the plate. Intaglio platemaking normally involves
using etching, drypoint, or engraving processes.
Intaglio is the only way of printing that can print ink in varying thicknesses.
All other methods deposit ink in a uniform layer from the surface of a plate to
the surface of the paper or other material. Intaglio is one of the four basic
printmaking methods. The others are relief, stencil, and planographic.
Monoprint
A singular image created by manipulated pigment on a
smooth, un-etched, un-carved surface.
A print marked as V/E (Variable Edition)
or 1/1 (edition of 1) indicates that the print is a singular image.
Monotype
A print that is similar to a monotype, but with some element of repeatable mark
(ex: a carving, a stencil, or something added to the matrix/surface).
Plate
A flat piece of substrate, usually copper, zinc, or
acrylic, used to create an image that can be printed.
Platemark
The indented impression of the edges of a plate in the paper. If the plate
edges have been wiped clean of ink, the platemark
will be simply an indentation. Otherwise it will hold ink unevenly and print as
an irregular line. The presence of a platemark is a
sign that the print was printed in intaglio, but all intaglio prints do not
show a platemark. Sometimes the paper is the same
size as (or smaller than) the plate, or the print is trimmed inside the platemark after printing.
Process Colors
/ 4-Color Process
The most common method of achieving color in printing is referred to as CMYK,
four–color process, or even just process. To reproduce a color image, a
file is separated into four different colors: Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y)
and Key Color/Black (K). When each color is printed on paper together in properly-registered sequence, the original image is
recreated.
Registration
A system to ensure that several plates can be printed in accurate alignment,
one on top of the other, to make a single print.
Relief
One of the four basic printmaking methods, which also include intaglio, stencil,
and planographic. Relief printing, the oldest print
process, encompasses woodcut, linocut, hand-set type,
rubber stamps, and related processes like potato prints. The plate or block is
incised, but the ink is applied to the top surface rather than to the incisions
as in intaglio. Intaglio plates can be printed in relief, and sometimes relief
and intaglio inkings are combined.
Stencil
A method of printmaking in which ink is forced through
a matrix. ItÕs main use is in screenprinting
and pochoir. In screenprinting,
also called silkscreen or serigraphy, the stencil is attached to a fabric or
wire mesh screen and the ink is pushed through with a squeegee. In pochoir the ink is hand-painted on paper or fabric through
a stencil. Stencil printing is one of the four basic printmaking methods, which
also include relief, intaglio, and planographic.