A

Acid: corrosive liquid used to etch metal plates: cupric chloride, ferric chloride, hydrochloric, nitric, and potassium chlorate are all used. Also called the mordant.

Acid-free: neutral pH state usually in reference to paper, board, or paste. pH is expressed on a scale 0-14 ranging from alkalinity to acidity: pH 7 is neutral.

Affiche originale: used in France to denote a poster created by an artist, usually for his own exhibition, often signed and numbered. Usually lithographs or screenprints.

Aluminium: used for litho and intaglio but more difficult to use than traditional metals as it oxidizes very easily. Most photo-litho plates are aluminium or aluminium alloys.

Alkali: caustic soda, is used in solution to etch lino.

Antiquarian: a size of paper used by printmakers approx. 790 x 1350 mm (31 x 53 in.).

Aquatint: intaglio technique to obtain the impression of tone.

Artist's books: a book totally designed by the artist and produced in small editions using printmaker's techniques. Often a collection of prints with supporting text issued on subscription. A strong European tradition.

Artist's proof or AP: copies of a print over and above the edition (normally not more than ten percent extra) pulled for the artist's archives and friends.

Autographic: a print on which all the work has been done by the artist alone.

B

Baren Japanese burnishing pad made of twisted string or wire between varnished cloth covered with bamboo sheath

Bite the action of acid on a metal plate in etching

Blanket felt placed between the roller in an etching press and the paper which is forced into the intaglio section of the plate.

Bled image when the image extends to the edges of the paper or when the paper is trimmed into the printed area i.e. no margins are left

Bleeding colour pigment which spreads beyond the printed area to leave a discolouring 'halo' effect on the paper

Blended colours when two or more colours are blended by a roller or squeegee; also called rainbow or merged colours. In mechanical inking called split duct or fountain

Burin: 1 engraving tool used for metal and end-grain wood. 2 interchangeable with 'engraving' to describe the typical line which results from engraving

Burnishing 1 applying pressure by rubbing on the back of paper laid on an inked relief block. 2 rubbing down the texture on an intaglio plate

Burr the ridge of metal on either side of a drypoint line which holds ink to produce a velvety line. The burr wears down rapidly unless the plate is steel-faced

C

Cancellation proof a pull which is taken after defacement of the printing matrix to confirm the cancellation

Cancelling when the full edition has been printed the matrix is cancelled by scratching, drilling or chemical action. Litho plates and screen fabrics have the image completely removed so that the plate or screen can be re-used

Cellocut sheet celluloid dissolved in acetone is applied to a backing plate of heavy card or metal to build up layers which are printed on an etching press. Can result in embossing, relief or intaglio images with effects similar to colla-graphs

Chemical printing lithography

Chiaroscuro strongly contrasted areas of light and shadow in a picture

Chiaroscuro woodcut early form of colour printing in Europe using several blocks

China paper or Chine (French) fine strong paper originally made in China from mulberry bark. Used for relief and intaglio prints

Chine collé or appliqué (French): A printmaking technique where a thin piece of paper is adhered to a heavier base paper during the printing process. Used for intaglio prints: the pressure of the press unites the two damp sheets without adhesives

Chine volant (French) very fine Chinese paper like tissue

Chop mark blind embossed stamp in the corner of a print; denotes artist, printer or publisher

Cliché verre (French) a sheet of glass is blackened and a design scratched through creating a drawn negative. This is used to print on photographic paper.

Collage block or plate printing matrices created by gluing objets trouvées or cut-out card, wood etc on to a backing plate: can be printed by relief or intaglio

Collagraph a print from a collaged block or plate.

Collograph artist's print made by the collotype process (see Collotype). The artist draws each colour on a plastic sheet which is directly contacted with a light-sensitive, gelatine-covered plate.

Collotype derived from colloid: water-soluble gelatines, used to support a light-sensitive solu-tion, with which sheets of plate glass are coated.

When contacted with a negative and exposed to light parts of the gelatine harden. The plates are printed on lithographic-type presses which alternately ink and damp the plate. The hard gelatine accepts more ink while the soft gelatine accepts more water. No half-tone screen is required because the surface reticulation of the gelatine breaks up the tone into irregular textures

Copper-plate general term for all intaglio plates and prints

Copyright in printmaking, the copyright belongs to the publisher (who may also be the artist) unless otherwise agreed. The basic copyright of the idea (rather than the finished print) remains the property of the artist Coucher in hand-made papermaking the wet half-formed sheet is laid on felt sheets by the coucher

Counterproof a proof taken from one block or plate impressed on a new block or plate as a guide to position and registration

D

Decke the irregular edge of a hand-made sheet of paper. False deckles are made by tearing or irregular cutting. They are easily distinguishable if compared

Deep etch very deep biting of an intaglio plate, sometimes right through the metal. Ink collects on the sides of the deep etched area and prints as a 'boundary' round the eage

Dolly see Poupée

Double Elephant a size of paper used by printmakers approx. 1020 x 690 mm (40 x 27 in)

Drypoint or Pointe seche (French), Kaltnadel (German): An intaglio printmaking process where an image is incised into a plate with a hard-pointed needle.

Dye transfer a form of colour photographic print giving great richness of hue.

E

Eauforte (French) 1 nitric acid. 2 generalized term for all etchings

Edition the total number of prints published and authorized by the artist offered for sale

Editioning the printing of the edition as opposed to the preliminary proofing

Embossing Creating a raised relief image on paper typically without ink using pressure and a counterplate. Damp paper is pushed into cut or etched plates and blocks, with or without ink. See Gaufrage

Engraving cutting a design into wood or into metal

Epreuve d'artiste (French) or EA artist's proof

Estampe (French) general term for an intaglio print.

Estampe de tirage limité (French) a print drawn by other hands but issued in a numbered, limited edition which may also be signed by the originating artist

Etching 1 design bitten into a metal plate by means of acid. 2 generalized term for all intaglio prints

F

Feathering in etching, the use of a feather to remove bubbles from a plate in a nitric acid bath

Film 1 transparent plastic sheet used as a carrier for photographic emulsion. 2 grained transparent plastic sheet used by artists to draw/paint upon as an aid to registration of colours or to make a positive

Flocking powdered wool or other fibres stuck on a print with glue or varnish

Formed paper print paper pulp manipulated by an arust, or under an artist's supervision. Often of irregular shape, incorporating other mater-ials, dyes and with further printing added after the sheet is dry

Foul bite in etching when the mordant (acid) penetrates the acid-resist or ground uninten-tionally. Sometimes used deliberately to give a grainy texture

Frame 1 rectangular structure to protect a pic-ture. 2 rectangular structure on which fabric is stretched to make a screen to support a stencil in screenprinting. 3 the structural elements of a press

Frottage (French) see Burnishing

G

Gaufrage (French) embossing. Used in particular to describe the embossing in traditional Japanese wood-block prints where the paper is pushed into the engraved block by the end of a brush or a pointed piece of wood

Glass print 1 see Cliché verre. 2 relief or intaglio print on thin paper stuck on to the back of a sheet of glass. Sometimes the paper was peeled off leaving the printing ink image and colour was added by hand

Graver engraving tool, for cutting wood or metal, sharpened to various angles producing different shaped cuts

Gravure (French) general term which includes all artist's prints, not only engravings, and is also frequently used for reproductions

Gum Arabic: A substance mixed with watercolor or ink to increase viscosity and create different printmaking effects.

Gummed tape 1 kraft paper strip and animal glue used to seal parts of the screenprinting frame. 2 used to seal the back of picture frames, should be avoided

Ghost: a second impression taken from a block or plate, without re-inking, to remove excess ink. They sometimes appear for sale as do other working proofs. See Maculature

H

Half-tone tones rendered by small, variable-sized dots obtained by inserting a cross-ruled screen in front of a negative in a camera. Can be used by all printing methods; usually associated with mechanical reproduction

Hard-ground: A waxy ground applied to a metal plate for etching that creates crisp, clean lines.

Heat cutting the use of oxyactalyne or other gas torches to cut a design into intaglio plates

Heliogravure (French) 1 photogravure or photographic intaglio rotary printing used mainly for magazine printing. 2 a technique for making photo-etched plates using an aquatint texture directly on the plate, instead of the halftone system to break up tonal areas. Used by Rouault in his series Miserere, 1948

Holzschnitt (German) woodcut

Hors commerce or HC (French) prints outside the edition offered for sale. Usually those for the publisher and collaborators for reference only

I

Imperial a size of paper used by printmakers approx. 560 x 760 mm (22 x 30 in)

Insurance copy some publishers have one or two extra copies printed to substitute in case of damage

Intaglio: Any printmaking process where the image is incised into the surface of the plate, including etching, engraving, and drypoint.

Invenit (Latin) lit. designed it. Follows the name of the designer of the print on old prints Impression 1 pressure applied to transfer ink from block or plate to paper; leaves indentation in intaglio and some relief printing. 2 synonymous with any proof or pull

J

Japon Paper: A type of lightweight, high-quality paper often used in printmaking.

Jésus: (French) a size of paper used by printmakers approx. 500 x 720 mm (22 x 282 in)

Jig-saw: blocks and plates metal, wood, board or card blocks or plates cut up into pieces. Each part is inked in a different colour and the whole reassembled to be printed together. Used in relief and intaglio printing

K

Kento: registration marks used in traditional Japanese wood-block printing consisting of an

Key Plate: In color printing, the plate that contains the key elements or outlines of the image.

L

L' shape and a long strip of wood left along the bottom and one side of the block. The paper is placed to touch these two marks thus ensuring registration between blocks. It is also used by Western artists in relief printing Key block or plate where one colour carries the essential part of the design and is printed first so that subsequent colours are 'keyed' on to the first for accuracy. Occasionally the key design is not printed at all but is used only as a guide while making the printing matrices

Laid down a lithograph drawn on transfer paper is 'laid down' or transferred to a litho plate

Lavis (French) wash effect in lithography

Letterpress 1 relief printing from type and blocks. 2 commercial relief printing

Levigator counterbalanced or hand-held device to hold the grinding stone when re-graining a litho stone

Lift-ground aquatint

Light-sensitive coating a coating on paper, metal, glass, plastic film or screen fabric which reacts to light by hardening in exposed areas. Used as (a) an acid-resist when etching photo-relief (process engraving) and photo-etching (photogravure); (b) as the grease-attracting image on a litho plate; (c) as screen mesh sealer for the non-printing areas in screenprinting

Limited edition a printing run usually of a previously declared number but this may be determined by the number of perfect prints obtainable

Line solid black and white drawn image in which no tone is used. Opposite of half-tone in commercial printing. High contrast or 'line' film is used to translate continuous tone photographs into black and white only. It is used by printmakers to avoid using the half-tone dot.

Lineblock or line-cut, -engraving, -etching,-plate commercial printing terms for photo etched relief blocks for letterpress printing which consist of lines and solid areas only: without tone (see Process engraving)

Linocut, Gravure sur linoleum (French), Linolschnitt (German) linoleum engraving vd

Lithography: A printmaking technique based on the principle that oil and water do not mix, allowing for drawing on a stone surface.

Lithotint nineteenth century technique imitating a wash drawing

M

Maculature (French) a second impression taken from a block or plate, without re-inking, to remove excess ink. They sometimes appear for sale as do other working proofs. Also referred to as a ghost.

Manière criblée (French) see Dotted print

Manière noire (French) of any printing matrix which is first treated to print solid black; the design is then burnished, scraped or dissolved out to print in various tones: (a) mezzotint: plate textured with a rocker (b) aquatint: plate textured with aquatint ground (c) lithograph: plate rolled up solid with litho ink

Master printer a skilled printmaking specialist, often working with an artist

Matt dull finish: applied to printing inks or paper

Matrix the printing surface: block, plate or stencil

Mezzotint, Manière noire (French) Schwab-manier (German)

Mixed media prints which combine more than one media: lithography and screenprinting; embossing and lithography

Merged colours see Blended colours

Metal cut early engraved metal plates printed relief

Monotype or monoprint the artist paints on a sheet of metal or glass with oil-bound colours and a sheet of paper is laid on top. It is either burnished by hand or put through a press transferring the image to the paper. As a subsequent impression will be weak, unless re-painted, prints pes are not considered to be artist's Mordant acid used in etching

Mount rigid paper board used to protect prints.Ideally should be made from acid-free pulp.

Multiple editions more than one edition of the same print. Usually on different papers and in different edition sizes, i.e. first a small edition on a rare paper; a second edition, larger, on mould-made paper; finally a mass edition on machine-made paper and often signed in the plate

N

Needle or needling in line etching a needle is used to draw the design through the hard ground to expose the metal beneath before it is put in an acid bath

Negative 1 the result of exposing glass or film coated with a light-sensitive emulsion to light. The silver salts in the emulsion darken in proportion to the intensity of light. From this a film positive is made. 2 indirect working (see stopping out)

Number of plates, blocks or screens number of matrices used; do not necessarily coincide with the number of colours or printings

Negative Space: The space around and between objects in an image, often in relief or linocut printing.

O

Objet trouvé (French): any found object which can be inked and printed. May be natural e.g. leaves, bark or man-made e.g. fabric, metal, plastics. Must be flat.

Offset Printing: A printing technique where the image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket before being printed on paper.

Open bite: in etching where wide, shallow areas of the plate are bitten. Shallower than deep biting. The printing ink clings to the sides of the bitten image but the bottom is wiped almost clean of ink

P

Paper: three basic types of paper are used in printmaking: (d hand-made. (b) mould-made. (c) machine-made.

Passed for press: written on a proof which is to not as the model when printing the edition (see Bon à tirer)

Peau de crapaud (French): 'skin of a toad': the pouliar texture in wash lithography with very line wrinkle effect

Perspex or Plexiglass: transparent plastic sheet used to engrave on, as a substitute for glass or metal plates. Does not hold the image as long as metal.

Photo-etching

Photogravure 1 photo-etching on a commercial printing scale where the plate is in cylinder form (see heliogravure). 2 used increasingly as a term by artists for intaglio prints produced by photo-etching

Photo-mechanical a broad term for any reproductive process which used photography to create the printing matrix

Plate mark the indented edge of a block or plate in the paper. Characteristic of all intaglio prints. A false plate mark is the blind embossing of a rectangle to create an imitation mark. It was used in the past to deceive but is now being revived as an artistic device on relief prints, lithographs and screenprints

Plate Toner: A chemical solution used to tone intaglio plates after etching, altering the tone of the printed image.

Pochoir (French) hand stencil using water or gouache colours applied by brush or sponge.

Positive 1 a photographic image giving natural representation of light and shade, monochrome or colour. If the support is opaque (paper or metal) it is a photographic print; if transparent (glass or film) it is a transparency or film pos-itive. 2 direct working as in sugar-lift aquatint

Poupée (French) the twist of cloth or stick of felt used to colour by hand selected areas on printing blocks or plates

Pressure gap gap between glazing and print in framing

Printed by hand sometimes written on a print or embossed by a chop mark to indicate that it has been printed by the artist. Not widespread

Printer's proof the copy of the print which is made for the printer's records

Printing order the order of printing colours.

Process engraving the process of making photo-mechanical half-tone blocks, monochrome or three and four colour systems for letterpress printing (see half-tone)

Progressives series of proofs taken to show each individual colour and in combination

Proof or proofing the taking of a trial impression.

Provenance history of ownership of a work of art

Publisher the person who issues and sells prints and artist's books

Publisher's proof a copy for the publisher's records

Pull an impression taken at any stage of the printing process before editioning

Pulp from which paper is made, usually in sheets or webs

R

Radierung (German) etching

Rainbow colours see Blended colours

Raisin (French) a size of paper used by printmakers approx. 500 x 650 mm (19, x 25, in)

Relief Printing: A printmaking technique where the image is carved into a block, leaving the raised areas to be inked and printed.

Re-strike reprinting of a plate, often unauthorised, unsigned, after the artist's death and in unlimited quantity

Register the correct positioning of different col-ours in relationship to each other in a print

Reproduction process of duplication of an original painting, drawing or watercolour by photo-mechanical means or by a copyist (chromiste). Not artist's original prints

Repoussage (French) to hammer up a defective part in a metal plate in order to re-work it Retroussage (French) a film of ink left on the surface of an intaglio plate which prints as a pale colour overall

Reverse 1 an image which has to be worked back to front in order to print the right way round: all relief prints, intaglio prints and direct litho-graphs. 2 the back of a sheet of paper or metal

Rocker a toothed, hardened steel tool which is rocked back and forth over a metal plate to create a mezzotint texture

Roulette a small spiked wheel of hardened steel used to texture small areas of intaglio plates. Used in combination with etching, aquatint and drypoint. Also used to re-texture small parts on a mezzotint plate. Available in various sizes

Royal a size of paper used by printmakers approx. 510 x 675 mm (20 x 25 in)

Rubbing 1 when a sheet of paper is placed on a dry, incised or textured surface and crayon or waxy stick ink is rubbed over the paper. The lower surfaces of the object appear as white; the upper surfaces only give enough resistance for the wax to be picked up by the paper. 2 see Burnishing

S

Scorper a type of engraving tool used for wood engraving

Screen

Screenprinting

Separations 1 hand-drawn separations where an artist draws one sheet of paper or film for each colour to be printed. 2 photo-mechanical separations when the primary hues in an original are isolated by means of filters in a camera and serve as negatives from which printing plates are made

Serigraph or serigraphy screenprinting

Signature 1 the signature of the artist to indicate approval of a print.

Signed in the plate the signature of the artist incorporated in the matrix: the result is a printed signature therefore the artist has not given individual approval to each print

Silk screen screenprinting

Size 1 overall size of the paper. 2 size of the image. Generally given as height before width. 3 a gelatinous solution used in glazing paper Soft ground in etching a hard ground with the addition of grease to make it soft

Sizing: The process of applying a substance to paper to reduce absorbency, often done before printing to achieve sharper lines.

Stamp 1 to impress an inked or uninked block on to paper. 2 embossing stamp which clamps the paper between a male and female die and is impossible to eradicate

States working proofs in sequence used by the artist to judge the progress of the work

Stencil 1 screenprinting (see page 54). 2 design cut out of paper used to mask areas of a printing matrix during inking, used in relief and intaglio Stipple etching and engraving. An intaglio print in which the design is created by dots only Stone 1 lithographic stone: a slab of Bavarian limestone usually 2-4 in. thick, either cream or light grey in colour. 2 metal table on which type is arranged before printing

Stopping-out the use of various substances such as varnish, gum or sugar solution to protect areas of blocks, plates and screens from the action of acid, ink or other media

Sugar-lift

Surface

Surface printing printing from the surface of the plate in relief printing and intaglio colour printing

T

Title: name of the work given by the artist.

Tone: separation eliminating all intermediate tones (see Line)

Transfer: an image transferred from one material to another, mainly in lithography

Transfer Paper: Paper coated with a waxy or chalky substance that allows for transferring an image from one surface to another.

Trial proof: working proof usually experimenting with different colours and papers

Trimming prints: cutting into the sheet of paper as first published.

U

Underprinting: Printing a color or design that will not be the final image, usually to create depth or highlights in the finished piece.

Unlimited or unrestricted edition: editions which are not limited or numbered though there may be a stated total print run

Unpublished plate: a printing matrix so far not published. Often refers to a work found after the death of an artist which may be published posthumously

V

Vignette: A print with a gradual transition from full saturation to white, often used as a decorative element in intaglio prints.

W

Waste sheets: extra sheets of paper used during proofing or editioning which are used to set-up the machine or test registration. Not part of the edition. They are usually recycled in the workshop

Watermark: design in the paper, seen when held against the light. Manufacturer's mark. Used to trace the origin of paper. Special makings for an artist or publisher may incorporate a signature or device

Woodcut

Wood engraving

Working proof: proofs taken while developing the idea. Same as trial proofs