cycleback.com: guide to collotypes, glass prints, etc

Cycleback.com : Judging the Authenticity of Prints by the Masters

MISCELLANIOUS PRINTS

This section covers printing processes that do not fit neatly into the categories of relief, intaglio and planography. This section also covers processes that are not printing in the traditional sense, but are popularly included within the genre of fine art prints.

CLICHE-VERRE (GLASS PRINT)

Cliché-Verre is not a print in any traditional sense. It is a cross between painting and photography. A glass plate is covered with ink or paint and a design is drawn with a brush or similar. A piece of photographic paper is placed beneath the glass and it is exposed to light. The final product is a photograph.

Cliché-Verre was popular in the 1850s with such artists as Camille Corot, Theodore Rousseau and Eugene Delacrois. The most prominent 20th century user was Gyorgi Kepes.

MONOTYPE

A monotype is not a print in the traditional sense, and does not require technical printing skill. It is sort of a cross between painting and printing, and is used exclusively in the fine arts. The monotype is made from a single flat/smooth printing plate. On the printing plate, the artist draws or paints a design in ink or paint. The ink can be applied in a wide and wild variety of ways, including painting it on with a brush, rolling it on with a roller and drawing. While the ink or paint is still wet, a piece of paper is place on top of it and pressure applied, either with a printing press or by hand.

The process is meant to produce a single print (thus ‘mono’), but there is sometimes enough damp ink left on the plate surface to make a second, weaker, impression. This second impression is often called a ghost. To add more colors, designs and textures, the monotype might go through several different prints from the same plate. As a result, some monotypes are sparse, while others are dense with colors and texture.

The monotype should not be confused with the monoprint. A monoprint is also a one-of-one print, but is made differently. The monoprint is usually made with traditional printing processes, like lithography, etching and woodcut. A monoprint is usually a mixed-media printing, meaning that it involves more that one type of printing.

Monotypes date to the 1600s. Amongst the most famous practitioners were Edgar Degas and the poet William Blake.

Making Your Own Monotype

There is a wide variety of techniques and styles used in making monotypes. This briefly shows a few common techniques.

Directions

Step 1) Get a flat and smooth printing plate, like as a sheet of Plexiglas, metal or varnished wood. If you have to you can use cardboard or a rougher board, but the ink will not print as smoothly (which may be an effect you desire).

Step 2) Apply printer's ink to the printer's plate. A roller will make the ink smoother, though you can use a brush if you wish. In the pictures, two color inks were used, but you can use as many or as few colors as you wish. You can use paint instead of ink, but paint often dries quickly, which may be a problem if you are slow in creating your design.

two colors of ink rolled onto the plate

Step 3) Make your design into the ink. If you print before making a design, it will print as a solid ink. Anything you do to the ink now will make a mark in the solid printed ink. The simplest way to make a picture is to draw with the blunt end of a brush or pencil. What is drawn will appear as white, and in reverse, in the final print. You can also use a brush or paper towel to remove ink for different effects. In the pictures, the artist cut shapes out of paper (a boat and a cloud) and placed them on the ink. The cloud had ink painted to it, to create a different effect. If you want straight borders to your print, you can put tape in a straight line on the edges. You can also make designs in the ink with tape, such as spelling your name.

inked printing plate with designs drawn into ink and cutout stencils of boat and cloud.

Step 4) Place a piece of paper on top of the ink and apply pressure to the paper. You can apply pressure in a variety of ways, including running your hand or a large spoon over the paper. Make sure to rub all over, so you don't miss a spot. Remove the paper, by slowly pulling from one corner. If you try to lift the paper all at once, it might smudge. Congratulations, you have made your first monotype. You wish, you can add hand painted details.

Step 5) To make your second, 'ghost' print reprint step 4 with a second piece of paper. You will probably find that this second print is lighter. You may find that you like the ghost better than the first print.

finished print

SCREEN PRINTING, SERIOGRAPHY, SILK SCREEN

Screen printing-- also known as seriography or, in the United States-- as silk-screen, is based on stenciling. In stenciling, the design is cut out of paper (or any other suitable thin, strong material) and is then printed by rubbing, rolling, or spraying ink through the cutout areas. Screen printing is a sophisticated stencil process. It was developed about 1890 for advertising. By about 1960 artists were using the process extensively in fine art, giving it the name seriography.

In screen printing a fine mesh, usually silk, is tacked to a wooden frame to serve as a support for a cut paper stencil. The stencil is glued to the silk. In the basic process, the open mesh of the silk lets the ink through, while the paper stencil blocks it out. A design can also be blocked out on the screen with glue.

A common method of making a stencil is to cut the stencil with a knife. In this method the artist can use commercially produced screen process printing plates or conventional stencil papers. For accurate work, process plates, which consist of film on a backing, are preferred. Areas to be printed are cut out of the film and peeled off, leaving the rest of the film on the backing paper. After the plate is attached to the screen, the backing paper is removed. The screen is covered with film except in the printing areas.

Another method that is the tusche-and-glue method. The design is inked on the screen with tusche and, when dry, the whole screen is covered with glue. When the glue dries, the design is washed out with kerosene or turpentine. The tusche comes in liquid or crayon form. The use of the crayon results in screen prints that deceptively resemble lithographic prints.

To make a silk-screen print, the wooden frame holding the screen is hinged to a slightly larger wood board. The printing paper is placed on the board, under the screen. The consistency of the ink is important. The ink is pressed through the screen with the squeegee. Any number of colors can be used.

Photo-Stencil. Stencil plates can also be made photographically. This is called the photo-stencil process and it was invented in 1916. This is not a handmade printing process. Photographically realistic images can be made this way, and these images can be incorporated into screen printing. The stencil is attached to the screen in the same manner as other stencils. Andy Warhol was the most prominent users of the photo-stencil.

As the photo-stencil illustrates, a screen prints can both be handmade and process prints. This means that if you see something is described simply as a silkscreen, it should not be automatically assumed that is an original print.

Identification: As the mesh does not allow for the fineness of other prints, the screen print is crude relative to other processes. Screen prints can be difficult to distinguish from lithography. As with lithography, the ink is flat on the printing surface, though this flatness is often more pronounced with screen printing. A print can often be identified as a screen print when the pattern of the mesh appears in the ink.

Extra care and study should be taken when purchasing an expensive screen print. The same photomechanical methods that were used to make the original screen print could be used to make a reproduction. In many cases, in person experience with a the originals is necessary before making an a definitive opinion on authenticity. This is why buying through experienced dealers and/or with the aid of expert opinion is important.

Close up of an Andy Warhol screen print. Warhol like the spontaneous, painting effects possible in screen printing. This painterly effect is most apparent in the orange ink.

COLLAGRAPH

A collagraph is a print made from a collage of items glued to a sheet of cardboard, metal or similar flat material. It should not be confused with 'collatype,' which is a type of photomechanical printing. The collagraph is primarily used in the fine arts. Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Georges Braque were famous practitioners. The collagraph is a relatively modern form of printing, probably originating in the late 1800s.

A wide variety of objects can be attached to the plate to give a wide and wild variety of designs and textures. Common materials include cardboard cutouts, pieces of metal and wood, sand and glue. The collagraph plates can be printed in relief (meaning, the ink is placed on the highest parts), in intaglio (meaning, the ink is placed in the lowest parts) or both. The prints often have the plate mark, or pressed in area engulfing the printed area, that is typical to intaglio prints. Collagraphs are often combined with other printing methods, including lithography, woodcut and etching.

Making your own collograph

Collographs are fun, easy and allow for imagination and experimentation. Both kids and adults can make them. As there are so many different materials that can be used, there is almost a limitless variety of styles and designs one can make.

This following example will show you how to make a simple collagraph printed in the relief manner.

Materials

Plate: flat sheet of cardboard, metal, wood or similar material

Ink or paint

Glue.

Brush or roller for applying ink

Paper to make your print on

Cardboard for making designs to paste to the plate.

Stuff to clean up your mess

Directions

1) Cut out cardboard figures or other designs you want have in your print (trees, dog, clouds, whatever).

2) Glue the cardboard figures onto the plate. Hot glue dries fast. If you use Elmer's glue, you will have to wait a while for it to dry. You can glue other items to the plate if you wish (coins, stones, wood, design in glue). Realize that, for proper printing, everything has to be of similar height.

3) With brush and/or roller, apply the ink or paint to the top surface of the items you pasted to the plate.

4) Place your piece of paper on top of your printing plate. Apply pressure (with hand, paper towel other). Remove the paper, by carefully pealing it from one side.

5) You have made a collagraph. If you like your design, you can re-ink your printing plate and make as many prints as you want. You can add further detail to your print by hand painting or drawing designs.

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MIXED MEDIA AND MIXED PRINTS PROCESS PRINTS

A mixed media print, means that more than one process was used. It is not uncommon for a print to made from two or more forms of printing. A lithograph and woodcut or screen print and engraving may be used together on the same prints. Prints may are also combined with non-printing methods, such as drawing, painting and photography.

The catalogue raisonne should detail which combined printing processes were used.

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