Elaine KreuzLithography is a printmaking process that consists of drawing or painting an image with grease-based crayons or paints on a printing surface. Although metal plates are less cumbersome and easier to prepare, many feel stone printing obtains a softer more desirable print quality, and is the better material. Stones may be re-ground for multiple uses, while plates can only be used for one drawing.
The stone base must be ground down to fine consistency and be perfectly level. An image is drawn on the stone and the stone is wetted with water. Gum arabic is applied over the whole stone in a step called "the etch."
After proper treatment with the gum arabic, the image of the stone is washed off with solvent leaving what looks like a destroyed drawing! The areas left un-treated by the gum arabic are the areas that pick up ink, so the drawing comes back to life once the stone is inked. A print is made by laying a piece of paper over the image and running the stone and paper through a litho press.
Etching is a printmaking process that uses a wax or varnish-"ground"--coated plate (usually zinc or copper) and pointed tool is used to draw into the surface---removing the ground and exposing the metal underneath. The plate is then but into an acid bath---the waxy areas of the plate or unaffected by the acid, but the lines drawn allow the acid to "bite" into the plate, and "etch" the drawing into the plate.
When the ground is removed with a solvent, the drawing can be seen carved into the surface of the plate by the acid. The plate is covered in greasy ink and then the ink is removed from the surface of the plate with cloth. Ink remains in the etched portions of the plate, and once run through the press, the pressure pushed the paper and inked etch areas together, creating an image. There are several techniques associated with etching:
- Soft-ground Etching, which literally uses a very soft ground that allows for pencil drawing or tracing on the plate through a piece of paper once the paper is removed where the pencil marks were made the paper pulls off the soft ground leaving exposed lines for etching. This provides for delicate lines, and a soft drawing quality.
- Aquatint is when large areas of plate are etched rather than lines. Since ink will not hold in large, smooth, etched areas, aquatinting creates uses power resin melted into the large areas to resist the acid. The resin particles resisting the bite create little craters in the area of different depths and sizes so ink can collect hold in the craters. Done well, aquatint can be very subtle and create beautiful gradation in shades of ink.
- DryPoint is often associated with Etching, but actually isn't etching at all. Dry point uses an etching plate, but the print surface is created by literally drawing into the plate with a sharp drawing needle and is never submerged in acid. The ink sits in the lines drawn by the needle, rather than the acid "bites" of etchings.
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