Technologies and Techniques

Technology or Techniques	Advantages	Disadvantages
Etching	Hand etching is a difficult skill and makes you money.	Expensive. Takes time and money. Needs precision.
Linocut	Can be cut easily due to it being soft.	Very fiddly. Needs precision.
Screen print	Non-impact process. Can print on virtually any material. Can print a thick film of ink.	Difficult to achieve fine detail. Four colour work is difficult.
Letterpress	Dense ink. Good quality printing type.	Not suitable more modern design processes. High quality paper needed for best results. Most big presses have been taken out of service.
Photogravure	Simple printing press. High speed printing Consistent colour. Easy drying by evaporation. Good quality on cheap paper.	High cost of plates.
Lithographic	Good reproduction of photographs. Plates are easy to prepare. Wide range of papers can be used. Higher printing speeds.	Ink/water balance problems cause colour variation. Damping can cause the paper to stretch. Dense ink films are difficult to achieve.
Collotype (photogelatin)	Screen less continuous tone reproduction. High quality reproduction of photographs.	Very slow and expensive. Only short prints runs are possible from each plate.
Photocopying	Very quick and not expensive.	Not a high quality reproduction of photographs.
Inkjet	Doesn’t smear like with photocopying. Every cheap to buy.	Need special paper to have a good outcome.
Laser printing	Print quality is good. Noiseless. Colour printing is possible.	Expensive Wet and may need time to dry.

Etching:
In pure etching, a metal (usually copper, zinc or steel) plate is covered with a waxy ground which is resistant to acid. The artist then scratches off the ground with a pointed etching needle where he or she wants a line to appear in the finished piece. It exposes the metal.

On your left you can see a picture of some different types of etching needles.

 

 

 

Linocut:
Linocuts are very similar to woodcuts. It is a printing method using a sheet of linoleum, in which a subtractive cutting method is used to take away the parts of linoleum where you want to leave the white of the page, and keep the parts you want to be inked! In the result you have a linocut that can reproduce the same image over and over again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Letterpress:
Letterpress works by covering a metal or wood plate with ink. The plate is created through the process of etching and engraving. It was originally done by hand but now is done by machines and lasers to cut the plates. After the plate is created, ink is added to the sections of the plate to be printed. The blank areas do not print and act as spacing for the letters.

After the ink is added to the plate, a sheet of paper is placed on top. The letterpress machine then uses a rolling wheel to move back-and-forth across the surface of the paper, leaving an impression. After the sheet is pressed and the desired print is achieved, the paper is either hung or laid out to dry.

 

 

Photogravure:
Photogravureis a photo-mechanical process where a copper plate is coated with a light-senesitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality print that can reproduce the detail of a photograph.

On the left is a photogravure of Victor Hugo from 1883.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lithographic:

In lithography the plates have a roughened texture and are coated with a photosensitive (light sensitive) emulsion. This acts as an ink repellent. When you print the ink only will make that shape as all the rest is covered with the ink repellent.

 

 

 

 

Collotype:
Collotype is printing process. In the process, a plate (aluminum, glass, cellophane, etc) is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin solution and exposed to light. The gelatin is hardened in exposed areas and is then soaked in glycerin. The glycerin is absorbed most in the non-hardened areas. When exposed to high humidity, these areas absorb moisture and repel the greasy ink. The hardened areas accept the ink, and the plate can be used to print a few thousand copies of the positive image.

 

Laser Printing:
When a text or image is entered into the CPU, it produces a series of varying voltages. This controls a LED(light emitting diod) in the printer. This emitts flashes of laser, when it falls on a charged photoconducting drum.