A

Aquatint
An etching technique that creates areas of tone through the use of powdered resin that is sprinkled on the etching plate prior to being bitten by the etching acid. The result is a finely textured tonal area whose darkness is determined by how long the plate is bitten by the acid.

B

Bromoil Print
- A process developed by E.J. Wall and C. Welbourne Piper in 1907. The image consists of pigment suspended in gelatin. The print is soaked in water and rolled with an oil based pigment. The oil based pigment is absorbed into the gelatin and repelled by the water. The print could be transferred onto another surface. Also called an oil print.

C

Chiaroscuro woodcut
A form of woodcut involving several blocks in which one or more of the blocks is used to print large areas of tone. Typically, a chiaroscuro woodcut will involve a line block to indicate the outlines of the composition and tone blocks with areas carved out to create highlights by allowing the white of the paper to show through. The final effect is similar to an ink wash drawing with highlights and line drawing.

Chromolithograph
a color lithograph usually involving a large number of lithographic stones to allow a complex color separation. The term is often used to describe late nineteenth-century color lithographs that emulate or reproduce paintings.

D

Drypoint
Similar to etching, but the lines are simply scratched into the plate manually, without the use of acid. The hallmark of a drypoint is a soft and often rather thick or bushy line somewhat like that of an ink pen on moist paper

Dye Transfer
Dye transfer is one of the most permanent methods of color printing; an original transparency or negative is projected or contact printed through red, green and blue filters onto three separate sheets of film. The resulting separation negatives are then projected or contact printed to make three relief matrices dyed in cyan, magenta and yellow dyes. These matrices are individually registered flat against a sheet of special transfer paper, which absorbs the dye and becomes the finished print.

E

Engraving
A form of intaglio printing in which lines are incised into a metal plate with a carving tool called a burin. The characteristics of burin engraving differ from that of etching in that engraving, requiring considerable force, is done from the strength of the arm and eliminates the quavering autographic qualities of etching, which is done more from the finger tips like fine drawing. The hallmarks of engraving are often elegantly swelling and tapering lines.

Etching
Also referred to as intaglio which is the overall printing category for etchings. It is a work of art created by covering a plate, usually a copper plate, with a waxy, acid-resistant base (ground) and then drawing on the plate with specially shaped instruments to remove the ground. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath that bites or etches into the plate where the protective covering has been scratched off. By leaving different areas exposed to the acid for varying lengths of time, the quality and depth of the line is controlled. The artist then removes the ground from the plate, inks it while making sure that the etched lines are filled, and wipes the surface area clean. Damp paper is pressed onto the plate. The softened paper is pushed into the etched lines. The ink transfers onto the paper. This process makes it possible to create a more detailed calligraphic piece of artwork as well as other effects that are not as easily obtained with lithography or serigraphy.

F

Fresson Process
Several contemporary artists use this process, invented by the Fresson family in France, and reputed to be the most pen-nanent color process available today. This process uses gelatin and pigment, similar to Woodburytype, collotype,carbon, and similar photomechanical printing methods. All of the prints have a luminous, grainy quality, and since the black and white process uses charcoal as a pigment, the blacks are rich and deep.

G

Giclée (zhee-clay)
A French word meaning "to squirt or spurt". A giclée is a print made through a computerized digital printing process. The IRIS giclée printer fires 4,000,000 droplets of ink per second, each droplet being approximately 5 microns in diameter or the equivalent of a human blood corpuscle. In this patented technology, the printer controls the flow of these droplets to produce an apparent resolution of 1,800 dots per inch. The printer uses four printing colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) and can produce up to 16 million colors. This cutting-edge printing process is known for its deep, saturated colors and the detail and subtlety it captures in each print. These amazing traits make an IRIS giclée print the latest benchmark in printing quality

Gillotage
A relief process made by transferring a lithographic image to a metal plate that is then etched to produce a relief plate. The term is also used inaccurately to indicate varieties of photomechanical relief printing.

H

Heliogravure
A forerunner of photogravure in which the photographic image is projected directly onto the plate rather transferred to it on an emulsion. The term "photogravure" is often used indiscriminately for both techniques.

I

Intaglio
Any of the techniques in which an image or tonal area is printed from lines or textures scratched or etched into a metal plate (engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, lift ground, soft ground). The plate is covered with ink, then wiped clean leaving ink in the incised lines or textures of the image. This plate is then printed in a press on moistened paper. The paper is forced down into the area of the plate holding ink, and the image is transferred to the paper.

J- nothing available

K- nothing available

L

LetterpressTypographic printing from movable type.

Lift-ground aquatint
A form of intaglio printing in which the artists draws with a specially formulated ink on a metal plate. The plate is then covered with an acid resistant ground and immersed in water. The characteristics of the drawing medium (which may be applied with a pen or brush) allow it to dissolve and work through the acid resistant ground. When bitten in acid, the final result resembles pen or brush work.

Linoleum Cut
A relief print carved into linoleum rather than wood.

Lithograph
A work of art produced by taking impressions of an image drawn on a plate made of limestone, aluminum, zinc, metal or plastic using wax pencils or grease-based inks. The plates are chemically treated so that only the greased areas will accept ink and the blank areas will repel it. One plate is required for each color. Therefore, a 20-color lithograph will be pulled through the press 20 times to achieve the final result. Lithography was invented in Germany in 1798 by Alois Senefelder. Lithography has become the primary choice of commercial printers.

Lithograph - Offset
A process used when the original artwork is a watercolor or an oil painting. It uses a photomechanical technique to reproduce the image. These prints are typically produced in unlimited quantities with the artist’s signature in the plate.They may also be produced in a limited edition that is hand signed and numbered by the artist.

M

Metal Cut
A form of relief printing from an intaglio plate. In the fifteenth century metal cuts often employed drill holes that printed as white dots. Engraved lines will print white rather than black in metal cut since the surface, rather than the marks in the plate, is inked.

Mezzotint
An intaglio process invented around 1650 that allows the printing of rich tonal areas of black and grey. The mezzotint process begins by texturing a metal plate in such a way that it will hold a great deal of ink and print a solid black field. This is done with a tool called a "rocker." A rocker is essentially a large curved blade with very fine teeth along its edge. This blade is rocked back and forth, putting courses of fine dots into the metal plate. After this has been done repeatedly the plate will be covered with fine stipples that can hold ink. The next step is to scrape away the stippled texture where lighter passages are needed. The more vigorously the plate is scraped the less ink it will hold and the whiter it will print. Mezzotint differs conceptually from other intaglio methods because the artist works from black to white rather than white to black. For this reason mezzotint lends itself to scenes with many dark passages

Monotype
A printed edition limited to one piece. After it is printed, it cannot be printed again. Monotype is a distinct medium like a lithograph, a serigraph or an etching.

N - nothing available

O - nothing available

P

Photogravure
A means of printing a photographic image by the intaglio process. The photographic negative (which may be of an artist's drawing) is projected onto a sensitized gelatin emulsion or carbon tissue that is transferred to a copper plate. After washing the plate areas that correspond to the image on the negative are dissolved and the plate can be bitten by acid as in routine etching. In hand photogravure, which is most commonly used in printmaking, the copper plate is first prepared for aquatint etching. The end result can closely resemble a traditional linear etching or soft ground etching.

Photomechanical relief print
There were many means available by the 1880s that allowed a black line drawing to be transferred to a relief printing block by photographic means. These are generically known as line blocks and the images printed from them typically share many of the qualities of woodcut. The means of transferring the image are often complex, and can involve such techniques as etching photosensitized plates or electrotyping light sensitive gelatin plates.

Photomechanical reproduction
This term is used to describe a variety of processes involving the transfer of a photographic image to a printing matrix, such as an etching plate, relief block, or a lithographic stone. The term is used here whenever it is not certain exactly what photomechanical process is involved.

Pochoir
A stencil print that does not involve a screen. Usually pigment is brushed across the openings of the template. Often the brush marks are discernable.

Proofs
Impressions of a print. In the case of an incomplete print they are referred to as "working proofs."

Positone
A trademarked lithographic system that is a breakthrough continuous tone lithographic process. It allows artwork to be reproduced with fidelity to the original that had been previously unachievable. In 1984, the positone lithographic system was entered into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institutes’ Significant Advances in Reproduction Methods of the Twentieth Century.

Printmaking
Any process by which an image is transferred from a matrix (plate, screen or block where the image is prepared,) to a print. Prints are usually made with a printing press that evenly applies pressure to bring the matrix and the print together. There are several basic printmaking techniques including lithography, serigraphy, etching, giclee, and more.

Q- nothing available

R

Relief print
Any print in which the image is printed from the raised portions of a carved, etched, or cast block. A simple example would be a rubber stamp. The most common relief prints are woodcuts. The term "relief print" is used when it is not clear which kind of relief printing has been used (photomechanical or hand carved, for example).

S

Screen Print - see Serigraph

Serigraph
Also referred to as a silk screen or screen print. This is a stencil process of printing where silk, nylon or polyester is used. The stencil is made by blocking portions of the screen with a non-porous material. One way to do this is with a photographic stencil method in which the screen is made from a light sensitive film. This allows the artist to reproduce any image that exists photographically. A separate screen is prepared for each color that is used. Ink is squeezed through the screen and transferred to the paper below. After each color application, the paper is allowed to dry. The process was invented in England at the beginning of the century. It gained commercial popularity after World War I.

Silk Screen - see Serigraph

Silver print
A photographic print utilizing paper impregnated with silver nitrate (distinct from a platinum print, for example).

Soft ground
An etching technique in which the plate is covered with malleable ground through which a variety textures can be pressed, allowing them to be etched into the plate. For example, a piece of paper laid on top of a soft grounded plate can be drawn upon with a pencil, and the resulting etched image will resemble a pencil line drawn on paper. To be distinguished from "hard ground" used for simple line etching.

Sulphur ground
A technique in which a caustic sulphur compound is painted directly on an etching plate, or in which sulphur dust is otherwise applied to a plate. The resulting marks will hold ink and can be printed like an etching. The technique typically creates blotchy expanses of grey tones. This might be compared to printing rust marks on a steel or iron plate.

T - nothing available

U - nothing available

V

Vintage/Old/Modern Prints -
"Vintage" prints are photographs printed within a very few years of the date of the negative. Prints made after the period of time they would be considered vintage are identified as "old" prints; and prints made recently from the original negatives are called ;,modem" prints. Posthumous prints, or those made by someone other than the photographer, are specifically noted as such and identify the person who printed the photograph. The paper used, the quality of printing, the presence or absence of a signature or stamp and the condition of the paper surface help determine the date of a print.

W

Wood engraving
A relief print carved in the end grain of a block of wood whose thickness is the same as the height as a piece of movable type ("type high"). This was traditionally a commercial technique practiced by specialists and used in magazines and book illustrations.

Woodcut
A relief print usually carved in the plank grain of a piece of wood. After the relief image has been carved in the plank with knives or gouges it is inked with a dauber or roller. It can then be printed by hand (in which case a sheet of paper is laid down on the inked plank and rubbed from the back with a smooth surface such as the palm of the hand or a wooden spoon) or with the help of a mechanical press.

X - nothing available

Y- nothing available

Z

Zincograph
A lithograph done on a zinc plate instead of on a stone. The term is also used to designate a photo-etched relief print.