What is Printmaking?

I am an art student here at Lewis and this semester I am in an advanced Printmaking class. When I took the Intro to Printmaking class last semester I really didn't know what printmaking was. It's actually a lot of different things, just like how there are different styles of paintings.

The first method of printmaking we learned used linoleum. We would get a sheet and used tools to carve away at the surface to create an image.

Here is one of the linoleum carvings I have done.

After you carve out all the spaces you want white on your image, then you apply ink with a roller. Then you transfer the image and ink onto the paper by applying pressure. Then you get super cool images; the ones below are products of the lino cuts above.

The next method we learned was mono-printing. Like the name suggests, there is only one image that you can pull from it. You get the image by rolling out a thin layer of ink on glass, putting two pieces of paper on top of it and then drawing on the back of the top paper so the ink transfers onto the paper under it. If you uses a textured roller you get a fuzzy image like the one I did below;

If you use a smooth roller, you get a more crisp and clear image like the one I did below. I also included the picture of what the glass looks like after the ink has been transferred onto the paper.

The last method we learned was another carving method where we took glass and carved an image into it. After we have the image,  then we put ink into those groves and wipe it off the surface of the glass. Then we put the paper and the glass through a press in the art department. The image is transferred onto the paper and then looks like this;

If I had to choose what my favorite method is it would be the carving into linoleum. I like being able to create a stamp using it over and over again, using different colors and different types of paper. The photo with all of the leaf prints above was so much fun to do! I am a very pattern oriented person and that is all printmaking is; you make the stamp and then you mix the ink, stamp it, clean your utensils, mix more ink and do it again. I can make 200 images- and I probably have- with the same stamp. All of the prints that you make that look the same are called "editions" and you put the number at the bottom left of the paper.

I like the mono- prints and how they look, but you can only make one.

I like the result of the glass carvings, but I really don't like the process. Art is all about enjoying the process as much as the result.

-Kayla