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Linocuts are made by cutting a relief image in linoleum with a chisel or gouge.Linocuts are made by cutting into a piece of linoleum with a special chisel or gouge. Hobby and craft stores carry linoleum made specifically for printmaking as well as chisels that vary in size and point shape. Often, the image is sketched onto the piece of linoleum with a pencil before cutting away the areas around the image. The areas that are cut away will not appear, and those that remain receive the ink, which is rolled across the image with a brayer (a roller), then pressed to paper to create the print. -
This woodcut by Albrecht Dürer was created in the late 15th century.A woodcut is produced in a manner similar to that of a linocut. An image is carved into a wood block, then inked over and pressed to paper to create a print. Because wood is more difficult to carve than linoleum and its consistency more solid, sturdier gouges, knives and chisels are available to use with wood. -
A high level of detail can be achieved with etching.Etchings are created by coating a metal sheet, usually copper or zinc, with a special acid-resistant resin ground or wax. The artist uses a steel etching needle to scratch the image into the wax. Once the image is complete, the sheet is immersed in acid for a few hours---a technique that corrodes the areas not protected with wax. After the sheet is removed from the acid and the wax cleaned off, the sheet can be used in a hand printing press to create prints. -
A drypoint etching displays the blurred lines that are a signature of the form.To create a drypoint print, an artist scratches into a tin or copper plate with a drypoint needle. The burr, or rough edges, created in the metal by this specialized needle hold ink particularly well. Since the burr is left on the sheet throughout the printmaking process, the resulting image contains fuzzy lines and slight irregularities, giving the print a signature appearance. -
The mezzotint process yields subtle variations of halftones.Mezzotint prints produce greater subtleties of light and shadow, or halftones and gradations, than most other printmaking techniques. A copper plate is uniformly roughened using a special tool called a rocker. The rocker's edges are serrated and create a burr in the metal that will retain ink. Other engraving tools are applied to the surface to reduce or smooth away the burred areas to create the image; the scraper contains a triangle-shaped blade, and the end of the burnisher is round and smooth. Once the surface is inked, the plate is placed in an intaglio press, which contains felt layers designed to protect the burred surface during the printmaking process.
