Glossary

Etching: It is believed to be invented by Daniel Hopfer somewhere between 1470-1536.  Etching is a technique where a cut is made into a material such as marble or granite using a strong acid. It has both advantages such as being very useful for making artistic designs, however it is a very long and slow process.

Intaglio: This was a techniques used in the late 1430’s. It involves an image being marked into a surface, known as matrix or plate. The marks are made by etching and engraving, dry point, aqua cut or mezzotint. The surface is then covered in resin or anti-resistant wax, and then etched into the ground to reveal the plate. The plate is dipped into acid and t bites into the plate where it was exposed from etching. Martin Schongauer is one of the first know artists to used this technique. Intaglio has its advantages such as being useful in many different ways, so is therefore available to a wide audience. Intaglio also has the disadvantage of being slow and a long process meaning it may not be beneficial as time would be lost.

Linocut: This is another hand printing technique. It came around slightly later in history between the years 1905-1913.  It was first used by artists of Die Brücke and involves a design being cut into a sheet of linoleum with a sharp knife. The lino is then inked and a piece of paper is placed over it. It’s then run through a printing press to transfer the ink to paper.  Linocut is considered to be one of the easier techniques as well as being cheap and flexible. However it does have its disadvantages such as; any mistakes made are irreversible, texture is hard to achieve, it is hard to cut, limited colours can be used and therefore it is very time consuming.

Woodcut: this is a technique where a plank of wood is cut along the grain so that the printing parts are level with the surface whilst the non-printing parts are removed. Areas that are cut away contain no ink but the bits that remain are left to be shown on the original surface. It's advantages are speed. Although it can take up to several days to complete it is still considerably faster than many hand techniques. It also requires less skill and is easy to carve. The materials used are also a lot cheaper than many other techniques. It's durability is long term although repetitively passing a template through the printing process will degrade it's quality over time. It also isn't very adaptable. However it's disadvantages is the labour needed to complete a woodcut.

Screen print: This was first used in China, 960 AD. It is involves using woven mesh to transfer ink onto a substrate as a form of stencilling. It creates a picture or a pattern and is still used today for posters or display stands. An advantage of screen-printing is that a single image can be scaled upwards or downwards. It is also quite a quick process that can be applied to numerous of materials so has a wide range of uses. A disadvantage is that it is difficult to colour mix successfully so your range of colours is limited. The detail is also limited.

Lithography: This involves an image being drawn on stone with a greasy/oily substance, which transfers the ink to paper to produce a printed page. It was invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder and is still used to print onto flat surfaces such as paper, cloths and metals. Its advantages are that it has an excellent quality of printing and is fairly cheap. It can also be printed onto a variety of surfaces rather than just paper. However it has disadvantages such as only being able to print a limited number of copies.  It is also time consuming, taking up to 40 hours for a single drawing.

Letterpress: This was a technique invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440. A tool called a ‘type high bed’ is used and involves a process where many copies are produced by a repeated direct impression of an inked raised surface, against sheets of paper.  As the first type of mechanical printing it still had its disadvantages, similar to many of the hand techniques it is still quite time consuming. However it also has its advantages as it is of a very high quality.

Gravure: This is where an image is etched onto a surface of mental plate. The etched area is then filled with ink and the plate is rotated on a cylinder, which transfers the image to the paper. This is an adapted version of intaglio printing and like everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Its main advantages are that it is of a very high quality and bright colours can be used. However its main disadvantage is the time and cost it can take to produce a product from gravure printing.

Screen process printing: This is also a mechanical technique where ink is applied with stencils. The ink is applied to the back of the chosen image and pushed through open areas. This technique came around in 1914 when first used by John Pilsworth.   Advantages of this approach to printing are that many copies can be produced before any reapplication of ink is necessary. Its disadvantages are that the design being printed has to be a very limited design.

Photocopying: This began in the late 1900’s, rapidly increased the development of print. One technique now available is photocopying. It involves paper being exposed to a negative photographic, a positive transparency or a digital exposure unit to produce a final image. It was invented by Chester Carlson and made it possible to be able to print images of various sizes and making accurate copies. However the equipment is expensive.

Laser: This it is a common type of computer printer that quickly produces high quality text and graphics on paper. The process involves removing a charge from the areas exposed to light. The charged area then picks up dry ink.  The first laser printer was in 1976 invented by Xerox. The main advantages of laser printing is the speed, high quality, doesn’t create a loud and distracting sound in work places and are easy for everyone to use. However their disadvantages such as they are fairly costly, space consuming, aren’t very economical and can be dangerous to the atmosphere and your health due to the high voltages.

Inkjet printing: This works by spraying ionized ink onto paper in a desired shape or pattern. It is very similar to laser printing, except it is a considerably slower process. However it does have advantages over laser printing, as it is a lot cheaper, although the ink is expensive.

Desktop printing, which is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer. The software allows you to join and rearrange text and images as well as using/detecting digital files. After being developed in 1983 by James Davise. It has advantages such as a low cost and the ability to edit. However a disadvantage is there is a certain standard of knowledge needed to know how to use the software so may not be the preferred option by many for this reason. 

Digital screen print: This is a method of printing a digital based image straight to a variety of media. Its main advantage is it is exceptionally good if you require a high standard of quality. It also has advantages such as being able to print a variety of papers and quickly, which means it is very popular in modern day for printing posters, brochures and many more.  Its disadvantage is that it is only designed to print 25-1000 documents, so if you need more than that digital printing will not be beneficial.