The term “print” or engraving refers to a printed image on a rigid support, called matrix, leaving an imprint that will host ink and will be transferred to another surface such as paper, cloth, etc. which allows for several reproductions of the print. If the media is:
· a stone will have a lithograp
· a copper needle will have a etching, aquatint, burin, a drypoint or mezzotint
· Wood for woodcutting or linoléum for linocutting
· A silk screen for screenprint or serigraphy
Several test prints are made until the artist believes that it is perfect. That last perfect test is called "Good print or Bon à tirer". Once the artist gives his acceptance of the total, always limited number of copies, to be performed is required. Printer function is to thoroughly verify the homogeneity of the quality of that roll with respect to the initial test of 'good for stamping'. If quality deteriorates, the printer or the artist conclude that the test does not work. Printing can run on different roles. Since the 80s of the last century the artist puts his signature and he or publisher numbered works.
A distinction is made between the original print and etching or engraving or stamping interpretation.
Original Prints
The artist himself conceived and performs creation template on the matrix or stone, copper, steel, zinc, wood or silk.
Interpretation Printing
The original work of an artist (painting, drawing) is transferred onto the support recorded by a lithographer or an engraver. Such work is usually done under the direction of the same artist. The fact that the artist himself has not made the engraving on the matrix (stone, copper) does not influence the value of the recorded
Status tests
Before the 'good for stamping' and after one or two tests test, the artist can consider that your work has not met their expectations. Then again take the stand and continues to work with the same techniques or with different techniques and sends to another roll or makes himself from one or two new trial proofs. The first tests of the "first state" and the second tests of the "second state" are called then. And so on until the artist is fully satisfied with the result. Picasso came to perform up to thirty-one state tests. To that has been, that is, stage work, it obviously needs to be made on the same support. If the media changes, we will discuss another engraving, even if the picture is identical.
Proof
Before the final print proof, a very small number of proofs are printed to optimise the choice of paper and the colour of inks. These are studio proofs called trial proofs. The artist selects the best one and annotates it by hand as the "final print proof" (Bon à tirer) and then signs it. The print run is then made. A very small portion of this run is reserved for the artist. These are called artist proofs. These are not numbered or, sometimes, have special numbers so as to identify them as such. These proofs are always in addition to the normal, commercial, numbered print run. Before the final print proof and after one or two trial proofs, the artist may decide that his work has not achieved his ideal. He would, in that case, take his plate and continue his work with the same or different techniques, and then have one or two new trial proofs printed, or print them himself. The first are called the "first state proofs" and the second proofs are the "second state proofs". This continues until the artist stops modifying the engraving. Picasso went up to eighteen, twenty and even thirty-one states. It is necessary to use the same plate, so that there are steps – that is, works states. If the plate changes, it is considered to be another engraving, even if the subject is identical.
Direct Acid Etching
On clean, bare copper, the artist paints his subject while dipping his brush into acid. The difficulty with this resides in knowing the time required for the chemical etching process. This requires the artist to first create the darkest portions because these are the areas where the acid must remain in contact with the copper for the longest period of time. Then, he must create the medium intensity tints and stop very quickly after the lightest tints. He quickly immerses the copper in water to neutralise the acid, thus stopping the etching process.
Aquatint
If the artist wants to create a tint, wash tint genre, he treats all or part of the surface of the metal plate by coating it with resin particles. The distribution must be uniform and a resin box is used to "powder" parts of the plate. Then, the entire plate is heated. The resin particles adhere to the plate and bond together, but they leave small gaps between them. By immersing the plate into acid, the acid penetrates into the gaps and attacks – etches – the metal. The result is a large number of small or large black points (according to the size of the resin grains used), which give a tint which can be a deep black. The parts which the artist wants to protect from this tint are called reserved areas. For this, the artist deposits varnish or another protective product on the parts that he wants to be without tint. This is called using aquatinting with reserve areas. When the process of aquatinting is dominant or unique in a medium: the engraving obtained after etching, removal of the varnish, inking and printing, is called an aquatint.
Aquatint using Sugar
This allows an artist to paint on copper. The mixture used is a called a gouache mixture, which is composed of ink (to see what one is doing) and sugar. This sticky mixture is brushed onto the bare copper. The engraver paints all or part of his subject. Then the metal plate is varnished and immersed into a container filled with water. The sugar then dissolves in the water and the areas painted on the copper, and only those areas, are exposed, free from the protective varnish, to the etching chemicals.
Burin
Le burin is a small steel rod with a square section whose end is sharpened with into a slanted tip. The other extremity is covered with a small wooden sleeve which fits into the palm of the hand. The tip makes grooves – always called hatches – on the bare metal when the hand pushes the burin while applying varying degrees of pressure. The engraving obtained after inking and printing is called a burin.
Engravings on stone or zinc. Lithographs.
Lithography paper is grainy paper which is coated with Arabic gum. The artist draws on this paper with a lithographic pencil (grease pencil) as if he was drawing on a regular sheet of paper with a normal pencil. After the artist's work, the paper is transferred to a lithographic stone (limestone with fine grains, without flaws, flat and absorbent) or on a zinc plate (grainy).
The copy paper is likewise made up of lithographic paper, but it does not have any grain. It is used to transfer a design which already exists on a stone or on zinc, onto another stone or another zinc.
Stone offers many more possibilities than paper and it is the method that was used for the first, early lithographs including those of Goya, Delacroix, Daumier.
The principle of lithography is based on the repulsion of water by grease (grease pencil or greasy ink). On the flat surface of a lithographic stone, the artist draws using a pencil, paint or ink. If the entire surface of the stone is moistened, the water covers all the portions of this surface which are not painted or drawn on. If one passes an ink-filled roller over it, a second repulsion phenomenon occurs, the ink is pushed by the water and the water is accepted by the greasy areas– therefore, it is drawn or painted. If one prints by placing a sheet of paper on the stone, the ink is deposited on the sheet of paper and one obtains a print or a proof.
A print which is obtained in this manner is called a lithograph.
In order for the stone to resist the pressure of the printing process, it must be sufficiently thick– five to ten centimetres. It can be seen that if the artist wants to create a larger lithograph, the weight of the stone can become a problem. This is why people often use zinc.
One also uses reserve areas in lithography to protect the portions of the composition that one wants to remain white – non-inked – on the paper, or so that it is reserved for another colour which is to follow.
On the stone or the zinc, one can also make scrapings or stipples, operations that Picasso liked to use for his lithographs.
Wood Engravings, woodcuts
The artist chooses a wood board. If he takes it in the form which corresponds to the length of a tree, it is a plank. The engraving that he will carve is called a wood-cut engraving (plank side), and one sees the grains of the wood on the sheet of paper. If he takes it perpendicular to the tree, the engraving that he creates is called an end grain wood engraving, and one cannot see the wood grains on the paper. In fact, in the latter case, in order to prevent the wood from cracking, one must place small, wooden cubes glued to one another, but with their fibres perpendicular to the surface of the carving. Picasso only created ten engravings on wood (1905 to 1915). They are all on the plank side (wood-cuts).
The artist first draws his subject on the board, then, with a canif or a Japanese carving knife, he outlines his design. With a gouge or wood scissors, he cuts away (digs out) everything that he doesn't want to be inked, that is, all the surfaces between the lines of his drawing. These original surface lines then remain on the board. This is the inverse of the process of metal engraving. This is why engraving on wood is also called " relief printing". If one passes an inked roller (such as a bakery roller) over the preserved surface and then one applies this, using a press, onto a piece of paper, the result on the paper is called a wood engraving, or engraved wood, or woodcut print.
Engraving on Celluloid and Rhodoid
The technique for engraving on these plastic media is similar to that on bare metal plates and the same tools are used, that is, mainly drypoint and burin.
Engraving on Linoleum or linocuts
The technique for engraving on linoleum is the same as that for engraving on wood and uses the same tools. The uniform consistency of these materials which have no fibre, makes it easier to use these tools and does not lead to splintering problems that one may encounter with engravings on wood-cuts. On the other hand, it has problems due to its soft nature