Printmaking and reproduction: relief, intaglio, planographic and stencil
Printmaking questions test whether you can link a process to the physical principle behind it, meaning where the ink actually sits, and to the marks that process can and cannot make.
Relief
- Linocut and woodcut carry ink on the raised surface; what you cut away stays paper-white. Gouges: U-shaped for rounded removal, V-shaped for fine lines.
- The printed image is mirrored, so lettering must be reversed on the block.
- Reduction cuts destroy the block progressively; you print the lightest colour first, carve away, then print darker over the same sheet.
- Registration marks keep successive colours aligned; a baren or press provides pressure; oil-based inks stay open longer than water-based ones.
Intaglio
- Ink sits in incised lines while the plate surface is wiped clean; damp paper and high pressure pull it out, leaving a plate mark.
- Etching uses a ground, a needle and a mordant such as ferric chloride or nitric acid; drypoint raises a burr that gives a velvety, short-lived line; engraving cuts with a burin; aquatint fuses rosin dust for tone; mezzotint rocks the plate and works from dark to light.
Planographic and stencil
- Lithography relies on grease and water repelling: crayon or tusche on stone or aluminium plate. Monotype gives one unique pull; offset transfers the image via a rubber blanket for mass reproduction.
- Screenprint forces ink through a mesh with a squeegee; higher mesh counts hold finer detail, lower counts deposit more ink. Photo-emulsion stencils allow photographic imagery; hand-cut stencils and pochoir work directly with a brush.
Editioning conventions
- Pencil below the image: edition number bottom left, title centre, signature and date right. AP marks an artist's proof; trial proofs precede the edition; cancelled plates prevent further pulls.
Worked example
A two-colour reduction linocut, edition of twelve. Print twelve sheets in the lighter colour, registering with a jig. Carve away everything that must remain that light colour. Print the darker colour across the same sheets. Number 1/12 to 12/12 in pencil. Only twelve good pulls exist, because the block no longer holds the first state, which is the reasoning examiners want.
Traps that cost marks
- Forgetting the mirrored image in relief and stencil work.
- Over-inking an intaglio plate and losing the finest lines.
- Printing intaglio on dry paper, which blocks ink transfer.
- Choosing too coarse a screen mesh for delicate detail.