Printmaking Education
Printmaking Terminology
Artist’s proof (AP): A designation on prints that conform to the edition, but kept by the artist, usually numbered no more than 10 percent of the total edition.
Aquatint: A specialized etching process that yields toning variations.
Asphaltum: A solution made from tar that is used to cover or stop out plates when making an etching.
Baren: A hand-held tool used to burnish paper that has been placed on an inked block.
BAT (Bon a tirer, French “Good to pull”): The designation on the proof that becomes the standard for an edition of prints.
Bevel: A 45-degree angle established on the edge of a metal intaglio plate to prevent damage to printing felts.
Biting the plate: The process by which a metal plate is etched in a diluted bath of acid or other etchant solution.
Brayer: Also known as a roller and used to apply a relief layer of ink on to a matrix.
Burnisher: A hard tool that is used to smooth rough or scratched areas of a mental plate.
Chine Colle: A French term describing a collage element, usually made of thin Asian paper, that is printed and glued to the print at the same time.
CMYK: Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and Black (K): are known as process colors for printing.
Collagraph: A combination of the words “collage” and “graphic” to describe a print made from a matrix built with collage materials. Also encompasses intaglio matrices made with made with photo-sensitive films or emulsions applied to non-mental substrates.
Color separation: To make a multiple color print, an image must be divided into layers of separate color. Sometimes the colors are printed as solids that stand on their own (spot colors) and are printed with a unified layer (key image). Another approach is to convert an image into process colors, which are printed in half toned layers.
Digital print: A print produced and output through digital means.
Draw-down: A small sample of ink scraped across a clean sheet of paper for testing ink properties, such as hue or opacity.
Drypoint: An intaglio technique where the image is created by direct drawing into the plate using a sharp tool. The darkness of the line caries depending on the depth of the mark.
Edition: A number of identical copies made from a matrix or set of matrices.
Embossing: A physical impression of the matrix into the printing paper. Most often seen in deeply bitten intaglio, collagraph or relief matrices. Also used to refer to prints without ink, also called “blind” embossing.
Emulsion: A light-sensitive liquid for coating screens for photo processes in screen printing.
Etching Needles: Any sharp pointed drawing tool that can be used to scratch through a ground to expose the metal plate, which will be etched in an acid bath.
Etching Press: A wringer-style press action for printing intaglio plates.
Giclée: A fine art inkjet print (French gicler, “to spray”)
Gum Arabic: A substance from the acacia tree, used for lithographic etches and often as a binder in water-based pigments.
Halftone: a translation of tonal information into a bitmap system of various sized (amplitude) dots to simulate a continuous gradation of value.
Hard Ground: A hard-drying protective coating made of wax, asphaltum, and rosin. The ground is applied to a metal plate and scratched through with a needle to expose the metal so that it can be etched in the acid bath.
Ink Slab: Ink rolled to a thin, even film on a glass or otherwise smooth surface for relief of lithographic printing.
Inkjet print: A print made with an inkjet printer, which sprays minute droplets of ink onto the printing surface.
Intaglio: The word intaglio means to engrave or to cut into and describes the making of metal printing plates. Traditional platemaking processes fall into two categories, those where lines are inscribed directly by hand, such as engraving and processes that employ acids to establish images on metal, known as etching. In contemporary usage, the term intaglio can refer to any printing matrix where the ink is held in recessed areas of the matrix.
Letter press: A field of printing that incorporates handset metal type; the presses used to print and type other relief elements.
Levigator: A tool used to grind lithograph stones.
Limited edition: A fixed number of identical copies from one printing matrix. Sometimes the limit is determined by the wear and tear of the matrix. Sometimes the limit is an arbitrary determination, based on market concerns.
Linocut: A relief printing technique that uses linoleum as the matrix from which the image is printed. Linoleum does not have a grain so it is generally easier to crave than wood. It can be purchased mounted or unmounted.
Litho Crayon: A grease-based drawing material from lithography, graded according to softness and grease content. Litho crayons come in a variety of stick, pencil and tablet forms. Rubbing crayon is a specialized form of crayon meant to be applied with a soft cloth or rag for subtle tonal effects.
Litho Press: A press for printing lithographic matrices: uses a scraping motion.
Lithography: A planographic form of printmaking that relies on mutually exclusive printing and on-printing surfaces of the matrix. Traditionally lithography depends on the antipathy of grease and water to create the limestone or metal plate (aluminium or zinc) matrix.
Matrix: The plate, block, screen, stone, or other surface that carries the information for the print.
Mesh: The fabric stretched across a frame for screen printing. Typically a monofilament polyester, it is measure in threads per inch or threads per centimeter.
Mezzotint: an intaglio process in which the surface of metal plate is roughened with a serrated tool to produce a fine, overall texture that, when printed, produces a rich solid. The image is established by scraping and burnishing into this texture.
Modifiers: Substances added to printing links to enhance printing performance.
Monoprint: one-of-a-kind printed image. The general use of the term includes monotypes and prints that may involve a printing matrix with repeatable information. Used specifically, the term refers to one-of-a-kind images created with a repeatable matrix.
Monotype: One-of-a-kinds printed image made on an unarticulated surface.
Multiple: An inherent capacity of prints to exist in duplication. Conventionally understood as the edition, the term is also relevant to the use of the matrix in a modular form or conceptually to enable mass distribution of printed information.
Mylar: a generically used trade name for clear polyester film used for registration purposes.
Negative: A particular kind of transparency used for photo-processes. The image is in reverse (black and white values are flipped). Used with processes that yield a positive when exposed to the matrix.
Offset: Ink transferred from a fresh print onto another surface, usually to aid development of multiple color plates.
Planographic: Prints from a flat surface. All forms of lithography, some monotype.
Positive: A transparency used for photo-printing. The image as it appears on the transparency yields the same image on a light-sensitive matrix.
Process colors (CMYK): Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Proofing: The process of exploring inking and/or sequencing variations of a matrix or group of matrices.
Punch registration: A registration system where a set of holes is punched in the edge of the paper. The set holes are fitted over a set of pins so that each sheet of paper to be printed aligns to the matrix in exactly the same way.
Rag content: The amount of color fiber in a paper usually represented as a percentage. Paper made from cotton rag is more achival due to its neutral pH.
Reduction print: A print made from a single matrix printed multiple times. The matrix is altered between printings so that less and less of the information prints each time.
Registration: To align paper to printing matrices so that colors print in correct position. Systems include kento, T and bar, Mylar, punch or pin, guide sheets and various combinations.
Rosin: Solid residue created when turpentine is distilled. Powdered rosin is used for aquatints in intaglio and to prepare drawings for etching in lithography.
Roulettes: Tools that can be rolled over the surface of a plate to create an irregular or mechanical patter. They are ideal for creating values and textured effects.
Scraper bar: The part of the lithographic press that exerts pressure through the tympan on the stone or plate with printing paper as it is run through the press.
Screen: 1. A frame with a stretched mesh to which stencils are adhered for screen-printing; 2. A term that refers to converting an image to a halftone.
Serigraphy: Another term for screen printing.
Silkscreen: See screen-printing, Serigraphy.
Soft ground: Similar to a hard ground, with added tallow so that the ground remains soft and can record information by pulling ground off with pressure.
Spit bite: Applying acid directly to an aquatinted plate to create subtle smoky tonal information.
State proof: A proof taken of a matrix or matrices during the development of the print.
Stone graining: The act of removing an old image from a litho stone with Carborundum grit. Graining also flattens and levels the litho stone.
Substrate: The surface on which a print is made. Usually paper, substrates can be any flat surface such as wood, plastic or fabric.
T and Bar registration: A system of registration that aligns markings on the back of the printing paper with corresponding markings on the matrix or registration guide.
Tack: The stickiness of ink.
Tarlatan: A loosely-woven starched cheesecloth used to wipe intaglio plates.
Toner powder: plastic dust particles used in photocopies.
Transparencies: Opaque (light blocking) images on clear or translucent materials used to expose photosensitive printing matrices.
Tusche: A lithographic drawing material used to make washes. It is available in paste and stick forms from both water-based and solvent-based washes.
Tympan: A sheet of high-density plastic or fiber board used in lithographic printing. The tympan is placed between the paper and the scraper bar slides across the surface as the pressbed moves underneath.
Variable: The capacity of a matrix or set of matrices to be articulated differently, creating variations of the image. Changes include color, order of printing, cropping, location, or repeating of any element.
Vertical etching tank: A tank that is used when etching copper plates. The upright nature of the tank allows precipitate to fall to the bottom of the tank rather than remain on the etched surface. Aeration of the tank helps the sediment fall out of the etched areas.
Viscosity: The relative fluidity of printing ink.
Viscosity printing: An intaglio color inking method that relies on different viscosities of ink to build layers of relief-rolled color on a single plate.
Washout booth: A contained location for rinsing exposed photo emulsion from screens or photo collagraph plates. Some washout booths have backlighting to aid observation of the washout.
Washout/rollup: A step in the lithographic process when the original drawn image is removed (washout) and replaced with ink (rollup).
Water-based ink: Inks made with water as the vehicle. Screen printing inks are the most common water-based inks in printmaking, although some water-based formulas are available for intaglio and relief printing.
Watermark: A design, often a company logo or name in a sheet of paper. The design is a physical part of the mold that made the sheet of paper, resulting in a thinner deposit of fibers on the design. It is visible when the paper is held up to the light.
Wood engraving: The process by which a very dense piece of end-grain wood is carved using engraving tools (burins and gravers) that make fine detailed marks and lines.
Aquatint: A specialized etching process that yields toning variations.
Asphaltum: A solution made from tar that is used to cover or stop out plates when making an etching.
Baren: A hand-held tool used to burnish paper that has been placed on an inked block.
BAT (Bon a tirer, French “Good to pull”): The designation on the proof that becomes the standard for an edition of prints.
Bevel: A 45-degree angle established on the edge of a metal intaglio plate to prevent damage to printing felts.
Biting the plate: The process by which a metal plate is etched in a diluted bath of acid or other etchant solution.
Brayer: Also known as a roller and used to apply a relief layer of ink on to a matrix.
Burnisher: A hard tool that is used to smooth rough or scratched areas of a mental plate.
Chine Colle: A French term describing a collage element, usually made of thin Asian paper, that is printed and glued to the print at the same time.
CMYK: Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and Black (K): are known as process colors for printing.
Collagraph: A combination of the words “collage” and “graphic” to describe a print made from a matrix built with collage materials. Also encompasses intaglio matrices made with made with photo-sensitive films or emulsions applied to non-mental substrates.
Color separation: To make a multiple color print, an image must be divided into layers of separate color. Sometimes the colors are printed as solids that stand on their own (spot colors) and are printed with a unified layer (key image). Another approach is to convert an image into process colors, which are printed in half toned layers.
Digital print: A print produced and output through digital means.
Draw-down: A small sample of ink scraped across a clean sheet of paper for testing ink properties, such as hue or opacity.
Drypoint: An intaglio technique where the image is created by direct drawing into the plate using a sharp tool. The darkness of the line caries depending on the depth of the mark.
Edition: A number of identical copies made from a matrix or set of matrices.
Embossing: A physical impression of the matrix into the printing paper. Most often seen in deeply bitten intaglio, collagraph or relief matrices. Also used to refer to prints without ink, also called “blind” embossing.
Emulsion: A light-sensitive liquid for coating screens for photo processes in screen printing.
Etching Needles: Any sharp pointed drawing tool that can be used to scratch through a ground to expose the metal plate, which will be etched in an acid bath.
Etching Press: A wringer-style press action for printing intaglio plates.
Giclée: A fine art inkjet print (French gicler, “to spray”)
Gum Arabic: A substance from the acacia tree, used for lithographic etches and often as a binder in water-based pigments.
Halftone: a translation of tonal information into a bitmap system of various sized (amplitude) dots to simulate a continuous gradation of value.
Hard Ground: A hard-drying protective coating made of wax, asphaltum, and rosin. The ground is applied to a metal plate and scratched through with a needle to expose the metal so that it can be etched in the acid bath.
Ink Slab: Ink rolled to a thin, even film on a glass or otherwise smooth surface for relief of lithographic printing.
Inkjet print: A print made with an inkjet printer, which sprays minute droplets of ink onto the printing surface.
Intaglio: The word intaglio means to engrave or to cut into and describes the making of metal printing plates. Traditional platemaking processes fall into two categories, those where lines are inscribed directly by hand, such as engraving and processes that employ acids to establish images on metal, known as etching. In contemporary usage, the term intaglio can refer to any printing matrix where the ink is held in recessed areas of the matrix.
Letter press: A field of printing that incorporates handset metal type; the presses used to print and type other relief elements.
Levigator: A tool used to grind lithograph stones.
Limited edition: A fixed number of identical copies from one printing matrix. Sometimes the limit is determined by the wear and tear of the matrix. Sometimes the limit is an arbitrary determination, based on market concerns.
Linocut: A relief printing technique that uses linoleum as the matrix from which the image is printed. Linoleum does not have a grain so it is generally easier to crave than wood. It can be purchased mounted or unmounted.
Litho Crayon: A grease-based drawing material from lithography, graded according to softness and grease content. Litho crayons come in a variety of stick, pencil and tablet forms. Rubbing crayon is a specialized form of crayon meant to be applied with a soft cloth or rag for subtle tonal effects.
Litho Press: A press for printing lithographic matrices: uses a scraping motion.
Lithography: A planographic form of printmaking that relies on mutually exclusive printing and on-printing surfaces of the matrix. Traditionally lithography depends on the antipathy of grease and water to create the limestone or metal plate (aluminium or zinc) matrix.
Matrix: The plate, block, screen, stone, or other surface that carries the information for the print.
Mesh: The fabric stretched across a frame for screen printing. Typically a monofilament polyester, it is measure in threads per inch or threads per centimeter.
Mezzotint: an intaglio process in which the surface of metal plate is roughened with a serrated tool to produce a fine, overall texture that, when printed, produces a rich solid. The image is established by scraping and burnishing into this texture.
Modifiers: Substances added to printing links to enhance printing performance.
Monoprint: one-of-a-kind printed image. The general use of the term includes monotypes and prints that may involve a printing matrix with repeatable information. Used specifically, the term refers to one-of-a-kind images created with a repeatable matrix.
Monotype: One-of-a-kinds printed image made on an unarticulated surface.
Multiple: An inherent capacity of prints to exist in duplication. Conventionally understood as the edition, the term is also relevant to the use of the matrix in a modular form or conceptually to enable mass distribution of printed information.
Mylar: a generically used trade name for clear polyester film used for registration purposes.
Negative: A particular kind of transparency used for photo-processes. The image is in reverse (black and white values are flipped). Used with processes that yield a positive when exposed to the matrix.
Offset: Ink transferred from a fresh print onto another surface, usually to aid development of multiple color plates.
Planographic: Prints from a flat surface. All forms of lithography, some monotype.
Positive: A transparency used for photo-printing. The image as it appears on the transparency yields the same image on a light-sensitive matrix.
Process colors (CMYK): Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Proofing: The process of exploring inking and/or sequencing variations of a matrix or group of matrices.
Punch registration: A registration system where a set of holes is punched in the edge of the paper. The set holes are fitted over a set of pins so that each sheet of paper to be printed aligns to the matrix in exactly the same way.
Rag content: The amount of color fiber in a paper usually represented as a percentage. Paper made from cotton rag is more achival due to its neutral pH.
Reduction print: A print made from a single matrix printed multiple times. The matrix is altered between printings so that less and less of the information prints each time.
Registration: To align paper to printing matrices so that colors print in correct position. Systems include kento, T and bar, Mylar, punch or pin, guide sheets and various combinations.
Rosin: Solid residue created when turpentine is distilled. Powdered rosin is used for aquatints in intaglio and to prepare drawings for etching in lithography.
Roulettes: Tools that can be rolled over the surface of a plate to create an irregular or mechanical patter. They are ideal for creating values and textured effects.
Scraper bar: The part of the lithographic press that exerts pressure through the tympan on the stone or plate with printing paper as it is run through the press.
Screen: 1. A frame with a stretched mesh to which stencils are adhered for screen-printing; 2. A term that refers to converting an image to a halftone.
Serigraphy: Another term for screen printing.
Silkscreen: See screen-printing, Serigraphy.
Soft ground: Similar to a hard ground, with added tallow so that the ground remains soft and can record information by pulling ground off with pressure.
Spit bite: Applying acid directly to an aquatinted plate to create subtle smoky tonal information.
State proof: A proof taken of a matrix or matrices during the development of the print.
Stone graining: The act of removing an old image from a litho stone with Carborundum grit. Graining also flattens and levels the litho stone.
Substrate: The surface on which a print is made. Usually paper, substrates can be any flat surface such as wood, plastic or fabric.
T and Bar registration: A system of registration that aligns markings on the back of the printing paper with corresponding markings on the matrix or registration guide.
Tack: The stickiness of ink.
Tarlatan: A loosely-woven starched cheesecloth used to wipe intaglio plates.
Toner powder: plastic dust particles used in photocopies.
Transparencies: Opaque (light blocking) images on clear or translucent materials used to expose photosensitive printing matrices.
Tusche: A lithographic drawing material used to make washes. It is available in paste and stick forms from both water-based and solvent-based washes.
Tympan: A sheet of high-density plastic or fiber board used in lithographic printing. The tympan is placed between the paper and the scraper bar slides across the surface as the pressbed moves underneath.
Variable: The capacity of a matrix or set of matrices to be articulated differently, creating variations of the image. Changes include color, order of printing, cropping, location, or repeating of any element.
Vertical etching tank: A tank that is used when etching copper plates. The upright nature of the tank allows precipitate to fall to the bottom of the tank rather than remain on the etched surface. Aeration of the tank helps the sediment fall out of the etched areas.
Viscosity: The relative fluidity of printing ink.
Viscosity printing: An intaglio color inking method that relies on different viscosities of ink to build layers of relief-rolled color on a single plate.
Washout booth: A contained location for rinsing exposed photo emulsion from screens or photo collagraph plates. Some washout booths have backlighting to aid observation of the washout.
Washout/rollup: A step in the lithographic process when the original drawn image is removed (washout) and replaced with ink (rollup).
Water-based ink: Inks made with water as the vehicle. Screen printing inks are the most common water-based inks in printmaking, although some water-based formulas are available for intaglio and relief printing.
Watermark: A design, often a company logo or name in a sheet of paper. The design is a physical part of the mold that made the sheet of paper, resulting in a thinner deposit of fibers on the design. It is visible when the paper is held up to the light.
Wood engraving: The process by which a very dense piece of end-grain wood is carved using engraving tools (burins and gravers) that make fine detailed marks and lines.