How the prints are created

Most people remember the potato prints of their childhood with delight – cut out a shape,
dip it in ink and just like that, the same pattern is repeated a hundred times.
Most art print techniques are about just that: in a hard surface – the
equivalent of the childhood potato, in art printing called the matrix–
creating surfaces where paint will stick and others where it will not stick,
resulting in a pattern when the hard material has been coated with printing ink and is subsequently pressed against paper.

Art printing techniques are divided into four categories:

  • relief printing
  • planographic printing
  • intaglio printing
  • stencil printing

The names are derived from where the ink sticks to the matrix. If it is on the raised areas of the matrix, it is a relief print. If it is in the depressions of a matrix, it is an intaglio print.

In recent years digital printing has become an accepted method for making art prints.

Cyanotype is a photographic method of making editions having become increasingly popular in recent years.

Relief printing: Ink sticks to the raised areas

Relief printing is the technique of the childhood potato – removing material where you want to leave the surface white and then adding ink to the raised surfaces that are left.

Woodcuts and linocuts are examples of this technique The printing plate is called the log and in this, the image is carved by removing excess material. The artists who work with woodcuts today are often keen to keep the specificity of the wood in the final print. In older woodcuts however, the wood structure is often difficult to make out.
Classical letterpress printing, where old-school lead types are used to print, belongs to the group of relief printing.

Intaglio printing: Ink sticks to the depths

Intaglio works in the opposite way. The artist uses a copper plate or another hard material to create the image in. The recessed parts are the ones that later will be filled with ink, contrary to the relief print where the raised parts carry the ink. When the plate and paper are pressed together in the printing press, the paper absorbs the color from the cavities of the plate. Etchings and drypoints are today the most common methods.

Etching - acid bites into the copper plate

Etchings get the name from etching with acids in a plate. First, the plate is covered by an acid-resistant ground. Subsequently the artist removes the ground in the places where he or she wants the acid to bite. This can be done with a plethora of different ingenious tools that give their own kind of expression. "Hard ground" means that the plate is treated with a mixture of wax, resin and asphalt, and then scraped away to bare the metal plate in the places where the artist wants the ink to adhere.

Aquatint etching - asphalt powder creates tones

In a regular etching, the artist draws lines that are etched into a plate. To create shading, the artist can, for example, make many lines close together. Aquatint expands the possibilities of the etching technique - by laying a grid of grains on the plate, the artist can create shades of grey over larger areas of the print.

Drypoint - a sharp needle as the only tool

Drypoint is another type of intaglio print. The artist uses a sharp needle to scrape the image in the surface of the plate. When the plate is coated with ink, it will stick to the tracks that the needle has left but also to the small traces of metal formed around the cuts, called the ”burr". This creates one of drypoint's characteristics, the softness of the lines.

Planographic print: inked and non-inked areas on a plane surface

In planographic prints the white and the inked surfaces are on a plane surface. Instead, other methods are used to determine where the ink will stick and where the paper will be left white.

Lithography - fat repels water

Lithography is the most common planographic printing method. Lito means stone in Greek, and lithographies are still today sometimes printed with stones. However, they have mostly been replaced by aluminum plates. The method is based on the fact that oil and water does not mix. When the printing ink is applied to the stone or plate, it will only adhere to the parts where the artist's motif has been fixed.

Stencil printing: ink is pushed through a cut-out

Stencil printing means that the ink is pressed through a cut-out pattern onto a surface.

Serigraphy or silkscreen

Screen printing or silkscreen printing, called serigraphy when it comes to art prints, is the most common method. A mesh, traditionally made of silk but these days often made from synthetic material, is stretched on a frame. Stencils cover the part of the fabric that should not be letting ink through. Today stencils can be prepared photographically, which gives extremely precise results

Digital prints

Times are changing. The artist who 200 years ago etched with a sickle in a plate, is perhaps today clicking with a mouse on a computer. Digital high quality printing has become a way for artists working primarily digitally to get their works out into the real world. These prints go by many names, but ed. art has chosen to use the term "digital pigment prints". This is to emphasize that they have a digital origin and are printed using high quality, long-lasting pigments.

Cyanotype

Cyanotype is a photographic method from the 19th century that has been used artistically but also practically.

Iron salts create the dark blue tone

The classic architectural blueprints are created using this process where paper is treated with ferric salts that are UV sensitive. When they are exposed to UV light and developed in water, the blue color appears on the paper. The parts of the paper that have been protected from UV light retain the white color of the paper.

Monotypes - unique prints

Some prints are unique and are not made in an edition. These are often called monotypes, where mono gives us a hint of what kind of prints we're talking about. Monotypes are often produced using an untreated plate or sheet of plexiglass, which is worked on by the artist and then run through the printing press, to transfer the ink to the paper. The artist can not repeat this image in exactly the same way, which makes the print unique. Sometimes the artist chooses to number the prints 1/1 to emphasize the uniqueness.

Learn more about art prints

What is a reproduction? Why is the signature so important? Learn more about what is important to keep in mind when buying art in editions online.

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