Glossary of Printmaking Terms
Made by Jordi Roses
Translater from Catalan Jamie Kutner
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Contributions:
Jamie Kutner
Acid or Mordant
A variety of solutions that are used to wear away at metallic plates. The most frequently used are Nitric Acid, Ferric Chloride, and Hydrochloric Acid.
A graduated, hollow glass instrument. Its scale measures the density of liquids in degrees Baumé.
A combination of printmaking methods using non-metallic plates, in which the image is created by the layering of materials. Although it is the opposite of traditional intaglio printmaking, this type of plate is inked and printed using the intaglio printing technique.
The process of inking a single plate in various colors using a small ball of gauze.
A combination of indirect techniques used to etch the plate with a granular base which, when printed, allows for non-linear shapes and tonal gradation.
A sharpening stone that is used widely by engravers
The prints in an edition that belong to the artist.
A dark colored material that is one of the main components of etching grounds, as well as a base sometimes used for aquatint.
A French term used for describing prints that are pulled in the earliest state of the plate, before text has been added to it.
A circular Japanese tool made of bamboo bark that is used for hand printing woodblock prints.
Bath
The liquid solution into which the paper or the plate is submerged.
Berceau or Rocker
A toothed instrument used for hand grinding plates for the mezzotint technique.
Bevel
Before printing a plate, it is necessary to file the edges and corners to a 45? angle so as not to damage the paper or the felts
Bistre
An earth tone frequently used in intaglio printmaking.
Bite
The action of the mordant or acid on the plate or matrix.
Bleed print
A print in which the size of the plate is greater than the size of the printing paper, leaving no margins and no plate embossment on it.
Blotter
A thick, absorbent paper made with very little sizing, which is used for drying prints once they have come off the press.
Bon a tirer or B.A.T.
French phrase meaning "good for printing," designating the print used for reference by the printmaker in making the print run. This print is signed by the artist.
Brayer
A small, thin roller with one handle, used for applying ink or ball ground over the plate. Brayers are generally made out of hard or soft rubber.
A small tool with a single handle and a steel point cut in a square or rhomboidal cross section. This is the basic tool of the engraver, used for making incisions directly onto the bare plate.
Burnisher
A small manual tool with a pointed curved steel shaft. Used for smoothing rough surfaces on metal plates.
Burr
Metal that is pushed up from the plate when scratched or carved with a pointed tool. In the drypoint technique, ink collects onto the burr as the plate is wiped with a tarlatan, giving a very soft, expressive result to the print.
Cancelled plate
Once the edition has been printed, the plate is destroyed by the artist, so that the edition cannot be reproduced.
Cancelled plate proof
A print that is made after the artist has cancelled the plate or matrix.
Carborundum
A silicone carbide used frequently as an industrial abrasive, in printmaking it gives its name to a technique in which grains of carborundum are adhered to the plate's surface, which allows ink to collect in between them. Once printed, this gives the effect of very compact dots and profound texture.
Cast paper
A process that consists of printing paper into moulds by filling them with paper pulp to obtain prints in very high relief.
Chine collé
The process of layering a thin piece of paper brushed with wheat paste in between an inked plate and the printing paper at the time of printing.
Collograph
A modified intaglio technique in which pieces of cardboard, wood, or other materials are glued to the plate or matrix, covered with a protective coating, and are then inked and printed, highlighting the textural qualities of the materials.
Colophon
Text that accompanies the edition of prints, which explains the technical details, the number of proofs, the number of prints in the edition, the workshop where the edition was created, and the names of the editor and printmakers.
Color intaglio print
A print with various colors printed on one or more plates.
Counterproof
When a print is finished but the ink is still fresh, it can be passed through the press with a clean sheet of paper to obtain an inverted image.
The sides of a sheet of paper with irregular edges, which are formed by stray fibers in the papermaking process.
Running the paper and the plate through the press twice, in order to obtain a very intense print.
The direct technique of drawing with a hard pointed metal tool over a bare plate, pushing up burr that can be inked and printed.
A thin, very hard pointed steel tool used for scratching a plate directly without any prior manipulation.
Échoppe
An etching tool with an elliptical cross section that can produce continuous lines that vary in width from thin to thick when scratched across a plate. Mimics the lines produced by engraving, using the etching technique.
A limited, numbered series of prints obtained from the printing of one plate or a set of plates. Once the edition, the Artist's Proofs and the Hors Commerce prints have been completed, the plate is destroyed.
An impression taken of a plate without ink, accentuating the texture and the relief of the plate on the paper.
The process of directly carving into a bare plate with a burin, using continuous lines that vary in width as a result of the depth in which they are incised.
The action of corrosion by acid on a metallic plate.
A print created using the corrosion of acid on metal. In line etching, a plate is varnished with an acid resistant ground, and then scraped with a pointed tool, leaving open areas of metal that the acid will eat away. The plate is then inked and wiped, so that the ink collects in the grooves created by the acid. The pressure of the press draws the ink onto the paper, creating a print.
A reproduction of an original work of art.
Felt
A woven or pressed wool fabric that is used in printing intaglio plates to diffuse the pressure of the press on the plate, allowing the paper to push into the depressions or incisions in the plate.
A common error in which the varnish or ground breaks down, or lines are undercut in the acid bath, leaving a large depression in the plate, and making tones lighter than desired. This occurs often when lines are drawn too close together on the plate. Foulbite can be used with artistic intent.
The coating on top of an etching plate that protects it from being corroded by acid or mordant. Some examples are: hard ground, soft ground, ball ground, white ground, wax ground. Also called Varnish.
French term designating prints in an edition, which are not for retail. They are generally reserved for the publisher or are donated.
Once printed, color can be applied by hand onto the image using watercolor, gouache, or other paint.
A groove made on the plate.
The thick, oil based, pigmented material used for a print's color. Its viscosity and working properties can be altered with additives.
A method of printmaking characterized by the use of plates that have been engraved or etched in low relief, and inked in the resulting depressions.
A manner of creating a print in which only the depressions of the plate hold ink and the surface of the plate is wiped clean. The plate, printmaking paper, and felts are pushed through a press, transferring the ink onto the paper.
A strong magnifying glass which allows the printmaker to check a plate's condition, including its depth and the density of aquatint grain.
The sides of the paper surrounding the printed image.
An embossment on the print paper with the logo of the editor and/or the workshop. It is applied with a special set of pliers to the lower margin of the paper once the print is dry.
When inking or printing, pieces of paper or other materials are placed in between the plate and the inked roller, or in between the plate and the paper, to create areas of the print with no ink.
Also called the plate, it is the surface on which the print's information is held.
A direct printmaking method in which the plate is completely textured using a berceau tool. At this stage, proofing this plate would result in a completely black image area. Once that is achieved, the plate is drawn on by smoothing the rough surfaces with a burnisher to obtain lighter tones.
An impression of a painting on a plate. The monotype is a unique piece of art that cannot be reproduced. Because it does not use etched plates, little remains of the image once it has been pushed through a press. Monotype plates are generally made of glass or Plexiglas, but metallic plates can also be used.
See Acid.
Paper that is interleaved between the printing paper and the felts when printing a bleed print
In an edition, this denotes the number of prints printed. The prints are numbered in the form of a fraction located in the lower left margin of a print, and written in pencil. The numerator corresponds to the number of each print in the edition, while the denominator corresponds to the total number of prints in the edition. For example, in an edition of 25 prints, the numeration would be 1/25, 2/25, 3/25, successively until 25/25.
Occurs when areas of the plate are left without any protection from the acid, so that it can act freely on that area of the plate, producing large open areas. This technique is used frequently for embossments.
A printmaking process in which the plate is coated with an acid resistant photosensitive emulsion. This allows for the reproduction of images that have been mechanically produced.
A thin, polished, even sheet of metal, wood, or plastic that is used for making prints.
Plate embossment or Plate mark
The indentation that the plate leaves on the paper from the pressure from the press.
Plate warmer - Hot plate
A metal box with interior electric resistance, which is used to gently heat the plates while they are inked.
The machine used for transferring ink from the plate to the paper.
An image obtained from the impression of a plate.
A group of prints made from the same plate or set of plates. Generally indicated by the number of prints in an edition.
Proof print notes
margin notes for the printer
Registration
A system used in printmaking which allows the layering of multiple plates, printing one on top of the other, by keying the image using a template or pins.
A registration system in which a tiny hole is drilled through each plate used in a print with a very fine drill bit at no less than two corners of the plate. Once the first plate is printed, a pin is placed in the marked points of the paper so that the paper and the remainder of the plates will align.
A plate is created using the etching technique, but when printed, only the surface of the plate is inked using a roller.
Once a plate is inked and ready to be printed, it can be gently rubbed with gauze, slightly lifting the ink from the grooves onto the plate's surface to give a velvety richness to the printed image.
A thick cylinder used for laying a single layer of ink over the plate. The exterior coating of a roller can be made of rubber, leather, or gelatin.
A tree resin that is ground, deposited onto the plate, and adhered to it using heat in the aquatint technique.
A printmaking tool with a small toothed cylinder mounted onto a handle, used for making tiny points on top of the plate, either directly or over varnish.
The artist signs each print in pencil in the margin directly under the right side of the image.
An etching ground that allows for marks similar to those made in pencil or crayon. Also used to reproduce textures.
Spitbite
An etching technique that consists of adhering a layer of rosin to the plate's surface, then drawing directly onto the plate with a brush dipped in acid, achieving very subtle tones.
A print that is pulled during the process of creating the plate, as a reference for the progress at that point in the plate making process.
Steel facing
A bath of water with an electric current running through it which will cover a copper plate with a layer of steel or nickel to harden the surface and therefore lengthen the print run. Can also be used to protect the plate from certain inks that oxidize copper and zinc plates.
Sugarlift
A variation on the aquatint technique which permits drawing on the plate in the positive rather than in the negative using a mixture of sugar, asphaltum and other ingredients.
A French term for a series of related prints or a series of prints on the same theme.
A superficial, very subtle tint left on the plate in order to obtain a general background tone.
A starched, loosely woven cotton fabric that is used for wiping the ink covering a plate's surface and working it into the plate's depressions.
The action of duplicating a drawing onto another piece of paper or onto a plate.
See Ground.
The degree of fluidity of an ink or ground.
The mark in a sheet of paper that indicates its manufacturer. A metal filigree is placed over the paper's mould, so that only a thin layer of paper pulp will collect over it, giving a translucent image on the finished sheet.
A printmaking technique invented by Walter Ziegler, where the artist draws on a fine paper placed over a plate covered with soft ground. With this method, the plate can be altered according to the colors of the artist's drawing. In this way, a color separation onto several plates can be achieved using one drawing.