The Types of Printing

RELIEF PRINTING

Relief printing is a family of printing methods where a printing block, plate or matrix
that has had ink applied to its surface, but not to any recessed areas, is brought into
contact with paper. The areas of the printing plate with ink will leave ink on the
paper, whereas the recessed areas of the printing plate will leave the paper ink-free.
A printing press may not be needed, as the back of the paper can be rubbed or
pressed by hand with a simple tool such as a brayer or roller.

Relief printing is one of the traditional families of printmaking techniques, along

with the intaglio and planographic families. Modern developments have created other
types. In contrast, in the intaglio process the recessed areas are the printed areas.
The whole matrix is inked, and the ink then wiped away from the surface, so that
it remains only in the recesses. Much greater pressure is then needed to force the
paper into the channels containing the ink, and a high-pressure press will normally
be required. Intaglio techniques include engraving, etching, and drypoint. With
planographic techniques, such as lithography, the entire surface of the matrix is flat,
and some areas are treated to create the print image.
INTAGLIO
The intaglio printmaking method is
characterized by an image being cut into the
surface of a plate. Traditionally the matrix is
copper, zinc or other metal and the cutting
is made with sharp hand tools or by using
acid. When ink is applied to the plate, it is
held in the incised image areas and wiped
from the surface, then printed on a press on
dampened paper.

Intaglio, in visual arts, one of the four major

classes of printmaking techniques, distinguished from the other three methods (relief
printing, stenciling, and lithography) by the fact that the ink forming the design is
printed only from recessed areas of the plate. Among intaglio techniques are
engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, and mezzotint (qq.v.).

Intaglio printing is the opposite of relief printing, in that the printing is done from
ink that is below the surface of the plate. The design is cut, scratched, or etched into
the printing surface or plate, which can be copper, zinc, aluminum, magnesium,
plastics, or even coated paper. The printing ink is rubbed into the incisions or grooves,
and the surface is wiped clean. Unlike surface printing, intaglio printing—which is
actually a process of embossing the paper into the incised lines—requires considerable
pressure. Intaglio processes are probably the most versatile of the printmaking
methods, as various techniques can produce a wide range of effects.

Virtually all intaglio plates are printed by similar means, using a roller press. This is
essentially composed of two bearing rollers with a movable flatbed sandwiched
horizontally between them. A viscous ink is forced into the incisions of the intaglio
plate with a roller, and the excess ink is wiped away. The inked plate is laid face up
on the bed, a sheet of wet printing paper is laid over it, and a blanket (to ensure
even pressure) is draped over them both. Then the upper roller of the press is turned
and the bed is drawn through; a pressure of several tons transmitted through the
blanket presses the wet paper into the ink-filled crevices of the plate, thus producing
the printed image.

There are two ways of making intaglio prints in varied colours. In the method known
as à la poupée (French: “with the doll”), a doll-shaped bundle of fabric is used to
apply different colours to different areas of a single plate, which is then printed in
the usual way. In the other method separate plates, each carrying a different colour,
are successively overprinted on a single sheet of paper. When this multiple-plate
method is used, the printer must be careful to ensure that each successive colour
falls in its precise location. The most precise method of ensuring colour registration
involves the use of pinholes to check alignment.

LITHOGRAPHY
Lithography, planographic printing
process that makes use of the
immiscibility of grease and water.

In the lithographic process, ink is

applied to a grease-treated image on
the flat printing surface; nonimage
(blank) areas, which hold moisture,
repel the lithographic ink. This inked
surface is then printed—either
directly on paper, by means of a special press (as in most fine-art printmaking), or
onto a rubber cylinder (as in commercial printing).

The process was discovered in 1798 by Alois Senefelder of Munich, who used a porous
Bavarian limestone for his plate (hence lithography, from Greek lithos, “stone”). The
secret of lithographic printing was closely held until 1818, when Senefelder
published Vollständiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerey (A Complete Course of
Lithography).
Lithography became a popular medium among the artists who worked in France
during the mid-1800s; Francisco de Goya (in voluntary exile in France), Théodore
Géricault, and Eugène Delacroix were among the first lithographers. Honoré Daumier
was far more prolific, however, making about 4,000 designs, ranging from
newspaper caricatures to broadsides printed on a single sheet. Daumier was one of
the first lithographers to make use of the process called transfer lithography, by
which the tusche drawing is made on paper instead of on the lithographic stone. The
drawing is then transferred to the stone and printed in the usual way. This method,
which is more convenient than working on stone, retains the paper’s texture in the
final print. In the second half of the 19th century, Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet
worked in lithography, and Odilon Redon made it his principal means of expression.

SCREEN PRINTING
Screen printing is a printing
technique whereby a mesh is
used to transfer ink onto a
substrate, except in areas made
impermeable to the ink by a
blocking stencil. A blade or
squeegee is moved across the
screen to fill the open mesh
apertures with ink, and a
reverse stroke then causes the
screen to touch the substrate
momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be
pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has
passed. One color is printed at a time, so several screens can be used to produce a
multicoloured image or design.

There are various terms used for what is essentially the same technique. Traditionally
the process was called screen printing or silkscreen printing because silk was used in
the process. It is also known as serigraphy, and serigraph printing. Currently,
synthetic threads are commonly used in the screen printing process. The most
popular mesh in general use is made of polyester. There are special-use mesh
materials of nylon and stainless steel available to the screen printer. There are also
different types of mesh size which will determine the outcome and look of the finished
design on the material.

A screen is made of a piece of mesh stretched over a frame. The mesh could be made
of a synthetic polymer, such as nylon, and a finer and smaller aperture for the mesh
would be utilized for a design that requires a higher and more delicate degree of
detail. For the mesh to be effective, it must be mounted on a frame and it must be
under tension. The frame which holds the mesh could be made of diverse materials,
such as wood or aluminum, depending on the sophistication of the machine or the
artisan procedure. The tension of the mesh may be checked by using a tensiometer;
a common unit for the measurement of the tension of the mesh is Newton per
centimeter (N/cm).

A stencil is formed by blocking off parts of the screen in the negative image of the
design to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear on the
substrate.

Before printing occurs, the frame and screen must undergo the pre-press process,
in which an emulsion is 'scooped' across the mesh and the 'exposure unit' burns away
the unnecessary emulsion leaving behind a clean area in the mesh with the identical
shape as the desired image. The surface to be printed (commonly referred to as a
pallet) is coated with a wide 'pallet tape'. This serves to protect the 'pallet' from any
unwanted ink leaking through the screen and potentially staining the 'pallet' or
transferring unwanted ink onto the next substrate. Next, the screen and frame are
lined with a tape. The type of tape used in for this purpose often depends upon the
ink that is to be printed onto the substrate. These aggressive tapes are generally used
for UV and water-based inks due to the inks' lower viscosities. The last process in
the 'pre-press' is blocking out any unwanted 'pin-holes' in the emulsion. If these holes
are left in the emulsion, the ink will continue through and leave unwanted marks.
To block out these holes, materials such as tapes, speciality emulsions and 'block-out
pens' may be used effectively.