Printmaking terminology
What is a print?
Technically, a print is any image that is transferred from a matrix. A matrix is a physical surface that can be manipulated to hold ink. Most, though not all, matrices are able to print the same image many times
Printmaking techniques
Acids/mordants
Traditional etching uses strong acids, usually nitric, hydrochloric or Dutch Mordant (typically 10% hydrochloric acid in water with potassium chlorate added). Etching with nitric acid produces toxic nitrous oxide fumes. Hydrochloric produces hydrogen and Dutch mordant is no longer recommended as it is very unsafe.
ACR – Acrylic Resist Etching
System of etching techniques using acrylics in place of traditional bitumen-based grounds.
Acrylic Resists
Etching resists (grounds) made from co-polymer emulsions, acrylic floor polishes, acrylic inks etc. rather than traditional bitumen-based grounds.
À la poupée
Method for applying several colours to a single intaglio plate with small dabbers made from rags or felt. À la poupée means ‘with the doll’ in French – the doll being the rolled felt or cloth.
Aquatint
Tonal technique using resin or acrylic. Etched in acid/metal salts in timed steps to create different tones. Washed acrylic aquatints can be made on metal plates.
Baren
Japanese tool used to print woodcuts. Traditionally made of bamboo, also made from plastic.
Bite
The corrosive action of a mordant on a metal plate.
Burin
Hand tool for cutting into metal (engraving) or wood.
Burnisher
Polished metal hand tool curved or straight, for smoothing rough areas of metal plates or lightening textured areas of a mezzotint or aquatint.
Carborundum/silicon carbide
Abrasive powder comes in different grit sizes, used for graining litho stones, for preparing etching plates and for collagraphs. Can be bought as a ready-made paste for plate making.
Chine-collé
Application of thin papers collaged into the image – usually but not always monoprint.
Collagraph
A print made from a collage block often made from thick card, MDF, Perspex, metal etc. Materials are glued and modelling pastes and powders, sand and grit can also be applied to create textures capable of holding printing ink. Can be printed in relief and/or intaglio.
Collotype
Reproductive process using a photogelatin glass plate.
Copper sulphate
Mixed with salt to make metal salt etching mordant (Saline Sulphate Etch) for aluminium, zinc and steel.
Creeping Bite
Graded etching tone particularly with aquatint achieved by gradually submerging the plate in mordant.
Degreaser
Chemical used to remove grease from etching plate before applying resist. Traditionally made from ammonia and whiting powder. Safer products include soy sauce and vinegar.
Digital Print/Inkjet pigment print
Image made using computer, scanners etc. Printed with archival ink or pigment with an inkjet printer. An artist’s digital print is not a reproduction but a limited-edition work of art that does not exist in any other form.
Drypoint
Direct intaglio image scratched into a metal or plastic plate to produce lines and burrs creating the characteristic fuzzy edges of the lines.
Edinburgh Etch
Mordant made from ferric chloride and citric acid used to etch copper (never put aluminium or zinc in Edinburgh Etch as this creates toxic fumes).
Edition
Set of identical prints from the same plate numbered in order e.g. 1/20, 2/20, 3/20 etc. Not including proofs.
Embossing
Raised impression made by metal or collagraph plate. Printing plates without ink results in Blind Embossing.
Engraving (metal/plastic)
Direct intaglio process using a burin to create crisp lines.
Etching
Image made on a metal plate using resist and chemicals (wax or acrylic ground/acid or metal salt solution mordant). Can be hard ground, soft ground, aquatint etc.
Ferric Chloride (Iron III Chloride)
Chemical used to etch copper. No toxic fumes are released.
Foul Bite
Accidental open bite in etching.
Frottage
Image made by rubbing textures of various surfaces though a piece of paper or cloth.
Galv Etch
Electrolytic process for etching metal plates without using acids.
Ground/Resist
The terms are interchangeable. A coating to protect an etching plate from the mordant. The image is drawn or pressed through the ground. Traditional hard ground is asphaltum (bitumen), rosin and bees wax melted onto the plate then rolled, soft ground has tallow added and never goes hard.
GSM
Grams per square metre – denoted the thickness/weight of paper
Intaglio
Printed ‘in the line’ – e.g. etching, engraving, drypoint.
Letterpress
Relief printing using metal type, or wood type, wood engravings, photo-etched zinc "cuts" (plates), and linoleum blocks, as well as stereotypes and electrotypes of type and blocks. In theory, anything that is "type high" and so forms a layer exactly 0.918 in. thick between the bed and the paper can be printed using letterpress.
Lift Resist/Lift Ground
Method of etching positive images drawn freely and directly onto a plate. Images are drawn with a soluble solution (sugar solution, grease etc) and covered with a hard ground. When dry the image is dissolved, lifting the ground to reveal the bare metal.
Linocut
Relief print from linoleum.
Lithograph/Polyester plate lithograph
Relies on the antipathy of grease and water. The image is drawn onto a limestone block or special metal plate, using a greasy crayon or ink (tusche). There are also photographic, polyester plate and waterless litho processes.
Matrix
What the print is taken from – metal plate, wood block, computer file, litho stone etc.
Mezzotint
Printed from specialist rocked/textured plate worked from black to white with scrapers & burnishers.
Mezzotint screen
Half-tone screen used for Solarplate and photopolymer plate preparation.
Mokulito/wood lithograph
Lithography technique using wood blocks rather than stones or metal plates.
Mokuhanga/Japanese Woodblock Printing
Traditional water based wood block printing technique, originating in China and perfected in Japan.
Monoprint
An impression printed from a reprintable block, such as a lino block or etching plate, but printed in such a way that only one of its kind exists, e.g. a printed image incorporating unique hand colouring or collage or monotype.
Monotype
One-off print, a unique impression printed off a flat surface – e.g. card, glass, Perspex, metal etc; it cannot be repeated in identical form as it is not made from a block or other semi-permanent printing matrix.
Open Bite
In etching. Exposing large open areas of a plate to the mordant.
Paper
Papers for printmaking can be handmade, mouldmade or machine made. Different mills such as Fabriano, Somerset, Hahnemühle, Arches, etc. make a variety of papers for specific techniques. E.g. a paper made for etching will have different characteristics than one made for screen printing or Japanese woodcuts.
Photopolymer film (ImagOn/Puretch etc)
Photopolymer film laminated to substrate – either printed from etched film or from metal plate etched in acid/metal salts.
Planographic
Printed from the flat – e.g. silkscreen, lithography.
Pochoir
A stencil method used to make coloured prints or to apply colour to existing prints. Ink is brushed or rolled onto the paper through a series of pre-cut stencils, each stencil representing a new layer of the image, until the final picture is complete. Originally thin metal sheets were used but stencils can be made from thin acetate (Mylar), card or paper.
Ream
500 sheets of paper.
Relief
Printed from the surface – e.g. woodcut, linocut.
Roulette
Textured dotted, lined or irregularly textured wheel-like engraving tools for making tonal areas on intaglio plates.
Scraper
Triangular metal tool used for removing burrs, correcting metal plates and bevelling metal plate edges. Also used with aquatints and mezzotints.
Silkscreen
Printing using a frame covered in a fine taut mesh through which ink is forced onto paper (or other material) beneath. Areas of the screen are masked off using handmade/hand-drawn or photographic stencils to define an image. Ink is dragged over the stencil on the mesh using a long rubber blade called a squeegee.
Solarplate
Prints from Solarplate/photopolymer plates – can be intaglio or relief, photographic or hand drawn.
Soy wax soft ground
Soft ground/resist made from soy wax and oil-based lithography ink (a safer alternative to traditional bitumen resist). Has a very low melting point
Spit Bite
Aquatint technique for graded tonal effects by applying the mordant to the plate with a brush.
Stop Out
Block out areas of an etching plate to prevent etching or further etching as with aquatint. Traditionally a varnish made with bitumen. Acrylic stop out can be made from co-polymer varnish and acrylic ink.
Tarlatan
Also known as ‘scrim’ or ‘muslin’. Fabric used for wiping ink from etchings, collagraphs etc.
Woodcut
Relief print from side grain (plank) wood block.
Wood Engraving
End grain relief print.
For more information:
Royal Society of Printmakers - Printmaking Explained
International Print Center New York (IPCNY) - Glossary of Printmaking Terms
International Fine Print Dealers Association - IFPDA Glossary of Terms and Techniques
Print Editioning & Annotations
There are no hard and fast rules for editioning and annotating prints but there are a number of accepted standard practices. Much of this comes down to personal integrity.
EDITIONING
Things to consider:
Edition Size
This will depend on a number of factors – the demand for your work, the durability of the plate, the technique and materials used, the time it takes to print, storage for completed prints, costs of materials etc.
The artist can determine the number themselves, but it isn’t necessary (technique depending) to print all of the edition at the same time or to strictly number the prints in the order they are made (again this can depend on technique)
However, once the number is determined the edition should not go over that number.
Artist’s proofs are traditionally a maximum of approximately 10% of the total edition number so an edition of 30 would have 3 A/Ps and one of 60 could have 6 A/Ps. Sometimes these numbers are determined by contract with publishers/commissioners.
It is customary to strike the plate/block, etc when the edition number is reached. Etching plates are traditionally scored or drilled through or cut up.
It is considered unethical to pull more proofs or prints after the edition number is reached without making changes to the plate. These then become different ‘States’.
It is rare that an edition goes beyond 100 (in England in the 1970’s the limit for an edition was 75. Beyond that the Inland Revenue imposed its own restrictions and claimed tax on the understanding that the ‘original’ print had become a reproduction). New technologies, as well as older ones such as steel facing, allow for many more images to be made but tradition and practicalities as above tend to keep numbers down.
Keep good records of edition sizes, the number printed, any colour notes, plate order, paper used etc. Also note where the edition numbers are held by galleries, exhibitions or when sold.
Numbering & Signing Editions
‘The custom of numbering prints is fairly recent, certainly no more than 100 years old’
‘Signing prints is a relatively recent practice in the history of print. James Abbott McNeill Whistler was one of the first to do so, and numbering became a twentieth-century custom’
Ross, R. T. R. C. J., & Illustrated, P. (1990). Complete Printmaker: Techniques, Traditions, Innovations (Revised ed.). Free Press.
The accepted method of signing and numbering is to use pencil below the image:
The number on the left as a fraction i.e. 1/20, 2/20, 3/20, etc.
The title in the centre
Signature and date on the right
TYPES OF PROOFS/ANNOTATIONS
These annotations replace the edition number under the image on the left. These are not considered as part of the edition.
A/P – Artist’s Proof - prints reserved for the artist and not included in the numbered edition (approximately 10% of the total edition number is acceptable). Artist Proofs can also, but don’t have to be, numbered A/P 1/5, A/P 2/5 or A/P I/V, A/P II/V, etc.
BAT - Bon à Tirer - a print indicating the standard to which all other prints will be held to. The expression is French for ‘good to pull’, and it is the print that meets all the standards dictated by the artist. There is usually only a single print denoted as the BAT.
C/P – Cancellation Proof – Sometimes at the end of an edition the defaced plate, stone, block, etc is printed with cancellation marks to show no more impressions can be made
C/P - Colour Proof - A Colour Proof is used to test out different colours to see which best expresses the intention of the piece. These prints are usually done prior to signing off the BAT.
H/C - Hors d’Commerce (Not for Sale) or Presentation Proof - This marking denotes a print that has been destined for promotional use. They may be signed by the artist and were often intended to be used as samples for galleries and dealers or dedicated to an individual.
P/P – Printer’s Proof – if working with a printer these are proofs presented by the artist to the printer. Usually held by the printer in their archives as a record of the print and is usually signed by the artist as a gesture of appreciation.
U/P - Unique Print or U/S – Unique State or 1/1 - Unique Print or Unique State refers to prints that are produced as singular entities, rather than a part of an edition, such as monotypes.
V/E – Variable Edition or E/V - Edition Variable or Variée – An edition that uses a common plate throughout but introduces additional elements (such as a hand-painted background) that are unique to each individual print in the edition. Often used with monoprints.
W/P - Working Proof or T/P - Trial Proof – Trail proofs that the artist has altered by hand, usually through drawing or painting for the purpose of working out subsequent changes to the composition on the printing plate.
Bibliography:
Ross, R. T. R. C. J., & Illustrated, P. (1990). Complete Printmaker: Techniques, Traditions, Innovations (Revised ed.). Free Press.
Saff, D., Sacilotto, D., & Gilbert, R. (1978). Printmaking: History and Process. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Chamberlain, W. (1972). The Thames and Hudson Manual of Etching and Engraving. Thames and Hudson.
Melot, M., Griffiths, A., Field, R. S., & Beguin, A. (1981). Prints - History of an Art. Rizzoli.
Mark Graver RE – Kerikeri Feb 2022
