Many people think that printmaking is about reproductions.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Every print made or exhibited at Double Elephant is an original. This means it doesn't exist in any other form and was conceived and executed purely as a print. There are many different ways to make prints, including etching, screen-printing, and relief printing. Often the prints are in small limited editions, sometimes only one is ever made. The whole process involves artistic input from creation to completion.

Prints at Double Elephant are created from a block, plate or through a stencil. They might be etched into a smoothly polished sheet of copper; collaged from a variety of textured materials, hand-cut into a piece of box wood or feature intensely-hued ink squeezed through a mesh stencil. It might be none of these traditional methods but an artist's very personal working method developed over many years.

 Artists are drawn to printmaking because it can provide a language of marks, a richness of colour and depth and other unique characteristics that can't be achieved in any other way. Some artists produce all their work using printmaking processes. Others, such as painters, sculptors, new media artists etc, move in and out of this way of working whenever they need to. 

Anyone can print, whether or not you perceive yourself to be “artistic”. Printmaking does not necessarily rely on drawing or technical skills and pleasing results can be achieved quickly and straightforwardly.  Put simply, within 15 minutes a person of any age, with no prior experience, can produce an original art work that they will take pride in displaying. However, beyond the basics of entry-level printmaking, there is endless scope for experimentation and development; professional printmakers continue to learn and develop their practice over the course of their career.

At Double Elephant, we love printmaking because it offers such variety. And however it is achieved, there is always an exciting element of surprise involved as an artist reveals another unique print. Printmaking, therefore, has broad appeal and lends itself to outreach very easily. This is why Double Elephant runs one of the only portable print studios in the country, offering schools and community groups across the region the opportunity to learn and enjoy printmaking for themselves. 

Here is a brief description of the principal methods of printmaking. If you'd like some help deciding which process might suit you, give us a call.

Intaglio Processes

Etching, Drypoint, Mezzotint are known as “intaglio” processes. These methods use a metal plate made of copper, zinc, steel or aluminium. The image is scratched or etched into the plate using acid so that it sits below the surface of the metal.  Ink is then forced into the scratches or lines and the surface of the plate is wiped clean. The inked plate and dampened paper is then passed through a press which forces the paper into the surface of the plate and lifts out the ink.

An etching uses acid to eat into the metal plate. A drypoint uses a needle which, scratched into the metal, throws up a burr which holds the ink. Mezzotint prints are made by creating a rough surface on a metal plate. The rough surface is made using a tool called a ‘rocker’.  This tool makes tiny indentations over the surface of the metal plate that will hold ink and print as a rich black.  Whites and greys are obtained by scraping and burnishing the metal surface flat again.

Relief Printing

Woodblock, Lino cut and Collagraph are methods of relief printing. A woodblock or lino cut is made by cutting away areas of wood or lino block with special tools, a little like curved chisels. Ink is rolled over what's left of the original surface and transferred to paper using pressure.

A collagraph can be printed in the same way. However, the surface is built up like a collage by glueing materials onto a cardboard block. Many artists like the 'rough and ready' feel of collagraphs, using different textures to experiment and explore how various materials take ink in different ways. The collagraphs process is very versatile - the plate can also be printed like an etching or even in a combination of intaglio and relief.

Screenprinting

For this technique, stencils are applied to fabric stretched across a frame (silk used to be used for this, which is why the process is sometimes known as silkscreen printing). Paint or ink is forced with a squeegee through the unblocked portions of the screen onto paper or other surface beneath.

Monoprinting

A monoprint (or monotype) is a print taken from an inked surface. The process used means only one print can be made each time. You can't edition (make more copies of) a monoprint.

Photo etching

Photo etching is a technique that uses a photographic light- sensitive material to coat the surface of a metal plate. The plate is exposed to a UVA light source together with the original artwork (an artwork is a printmaking term for an image that the printmaker has chosen to work with).  Once developed the plate is etched in acid as a normal etching plate then printed as an intaglio plate.  Artists can combine a number of processes. They can print on different materials or make printed books. Each artist finds their own way of using the processes to make something which is unique to their style.

Lithography

Lithography is a chemical process. It's based on the resistance of grease and water to each other. Some of our artists work with lithography but Double Elephant does not currently have facilities for lithography.

With thanks to Anna Wilkinson at Northern Print, www.northernprint.org.uk