Printing Processes

What are the Printing Processes?

The three main printing processes are Relief, Intaglio and Lithography. These processes all include a transfer of ink from a certain surface to paper. All of them have a different process which I will explain in detail. 

Relief

use a block of wood or a piece of linoleum

Use tools similar to a woodcutter would if working on wood 

Tone the block with Indian ink wash or wash of a jet black film. This works on linoleum but isn't necessary

Use Iron Oxide or Carbon paper transfer that has your design already on prepared

Transfer the image

Decide on if you want to use White line, which reveals the image through thin white lines, or Black Line, which is removing majority of the wood to reveal the image. A balance of boh is usually used.

Roll ink onto the block

Place in Press

If done by hand, use a baren, which is a tool used to transfer the ink from the block to paper, ad apply gentle pressure all over the paper on the block.  

 carefully pull the paper off of the block and check to make sure the image transferred.

Intaglio

prepare plate  by cleaning it

apply a ground to the plate which acts as a nonacid 

smoke the plate by placing it upside down

scratch away the ground to reveal the metal

etch the plate for fifteen minutes

submerge plate in a bath/pan of acid

clean the plate again

wipe the plate with ink 

hand-wipe the edges 

put chalk on your hands and brush over the surface

set on press

use a dampened sheet of paper

print.

Lithography

use a lithographic stone like limestone to draw on

use Lithographic materials/pencils/crayon to draw on stone

remove grease with sandpaper or razorblades if needed

Once drawing is finished, use gum arabic and rub all over stone

Use rosin and Talc to establish drawing

Apply acidified gum arabic  or TAPEM

apply more gum arabic

use cheesecloth to buff in 

use lithotine 

use aphaltem

apply water to clean

rub ink with an ink roller over the image

apply dampend paper

press. 

repeat adding ink to stone and press four to six times. 

Which one would I do?

I'd do lithography because I don't know much about wood or metal and I think stone would be a similar surface to paper since I draw a lot. I think these processes have some influence in contemporary design. 

ONW Procedures

     Over the past couple of weeks, I worked with a team to film a "how to" video related to our school. For example, how to use the lunch line, how to get into the school if you're late, dress code etc. My group decided to do "how to use the elevator". At my school, if yo are injured, and can't walk up the stairs, you can get a key from the nurse that grants you access to the elevator. We talked to the nurse to see if she was okay with lending us a key and if we could film. She said it was okay, and so we began. All my team members had the same basic idea for what we should film and do for our video. I had a pair of crutches and an ankle brace that fit me at home that I brought to school to use as props. I played the injured person in the video, and another person on my team played the person helping me. For editing, we all used Adobe Premiere Pro which is fantastic for editing and putting together videos. In the end, I think I did a good job with my video. Our camera was having technical difficulties at first, but we got a new one, and all is good. I would fix the white balance in some shots and well as leveling the shots by using the tripod. I would also reshoot the scene coming out of the elevator because one of our members decided it'd be funny if he was in the shot, but we were running out of time to film due to camera issues, so we just used what we had. All in all, this project was fun and I would do it again in the future if given the chance.

Multi-Exposure Panorama

   

     Going to Paris, France was one of the best trips I've ever had. The culture, language, food, architecture, people, and geography are all things I love. The photos I used in this collage were from the second level of the Eiffel Tower. 

     It was on a Sunday. Toby and my grandpa decided to visit Sainte-Chapelle, which is the most beautiful cathedral in my opinion. Then, we walked around a bit to visit the Luxemburg Garden, which is bigger than huge, and got some gelato at the best gelato place in Paris, Amorino. 

     We then decided to visit the Eiffel tower, and my grandpa and I got in line to climb up the stairs to the second level. We had to take two little breaks to catch our breath due to the amount of stairs there were.  When we reached the first level, we looked out at the view, but there was a fence blocking some of the scenery. 

     My grandpa and I continued up the stairs and finally reached the second level. There were hundreds of tourists looking out at the beautiful view of Paris. I was fortunate enough to capture some photos. The view was amazing! It reminded me of that scene of Ratatouille where Remy sees the beautiful view of Paris. 

      A few months later, school starts and I'm in Graphic Design. I've finished many projects and side projects and our ext project has to be a collage of photos we've taken. I decided to use the photos from the Eiffel tower because of the beautiful view. I did edit the original photos to give it more of an "old-timey" feel. I started putting it together by lining up the photos with the Seine river and go from there. I used the eraser tool probably one hundred times as well as many layer masks. Overall, I think I did Paris justice in capturing it's beauty and essence.