Printmaking The 6 major types

Types of Printmaking 1.) Relief 2.) Intaglio 3.) Lithography 4.) Serigraphy 5.) Giclee 6.) Collagraphs

3.) Lithography: The distinct advantage of lithography is that a large number of prints can be made from any single matrix, without the image deteriorating in quality.

Concept The concept of lithography is based on the mutual incompatibility of oil and water; the capacity of limestone to absorb and retain water and the disposition of oily substances to adhere to limestone. The highly polished nautre of the surface is receptive to the oil that is spread over it.

Inventor Lithography was invented by Aloysius Senefelder (1771-1834), in Bavaria. He discovered that by chemically treating the surface of the limestone, and drawing onto it with a grease crayon, only the areas touched by the grease crayon would take the printing ink.

Therefore, by drawing onto the treated stone in this way, inking it, covering it with a damp paper and running it through a printing press, the image is transferred exactly onto the paper. Nowadays, sometimes the technique is applied using a metal plate.

Websites: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2001/whatisaprint/print_cont.html http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolio/media/themes/Printmaking_Lithography.html