Reflective Journal #8

This week I spend a great amount of time on my own coursework for print which was on printing techniques. I finished off my article by adding part of the interview I'd done with Mary because it needed to be added partly even if I couldn't add the whole thing due to wording issues. I also started working on a new story for the media website which didn't all go to plan but hopefully next week more will get done. That is literally all for now but until next time.

Print Coursework - Research page

The History of Printmaking- Research page

Name of website	Link	Description
Fine Art Printmaking	http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/printmaking.htm	This website is one that gives information on the different types of printmaking and how they were used in the past, as well as how they are used today. I used this for their glossary of all the different types of printmaking.
Prepressure.com	http://www.prepressure.com/printing/history	This website gives information on printing and the page from it I used was all about the history of printmaking over the centuries.
Lower east side printshop	http://www.printshop.org/web/Learn/Glossary/	This website is also has a glossary for the different types of printmaking. The overall website is meant for giving information on the classes that you can attend if you want to do printmaking.
Masterworks fine art	http://www.masterworksfineart.com/education/printmaking-techniques/	This website is a fine art website, giving it’s audience information on different artists and art education. This website also tells you when the latest exhibitions are taking place and where they are held, you can also purchase artwork from them and it tells you how you can do that. What I used this website for was their own glossary of terms and definitions for different types of printmaking. Unlike the rest of the glossaries I looked at, this one gives you a list with links to the information so you don’t spend forever looking for what you want.
3D Print Headquarters	http://3dprinthq.com/how-3d-printing-has-evolved-in-the-last-10-years/	This particular website it dedicated to all things on 3D printing, providing info on the history as well as the latest news. I found this particularly useful as I had no clue about 3D printing at all.
Trotec	http://www.troteclaser.com/en-US-GB/Support/FAQs/Pages/How-to-Laser-Engrave.aspx	This is a website dedicated to all things laser which includes cutting and graving. It gives you information on the different types of lasering, the materials used and a how to guide.
Interview with Mary Wells	Mary wells interview: Q: When did you start playing around with p m in art in a more serious way? M(answer): I started printmaking at GCSE year 10 but i never really tried out the more mechanical style of printing where you use plastic and metal to create prints until A level, but now I'm starting to take it seriously in foundation and taking it seriously as a course to take at university in the future. O: Could you name a few of the different forms of printmaking that you have used or been taught/ come across? M(answer): The more simple forms of print like mono print, relief print i've used since GCSE and they're quite easy to do, but the ones that i started to use more often in foundation and A level now are screen printing, dry point etching, and doing them in several different ways and different formats doing these different prints. M: My favorite would have to be dry point etching though, which can be done on a metal copper plate or on a plastic plate. O: Could you name a pro and con for each of these you've mentioned? M: Dry point etching is the closest form of printmaking to drawing where you actually scratch into a material, the con to it is that if you do it with metal you have to use acid and you have to be quite careful because it can end up either ruining your work or ruining your hands, it's quite a long winded process and you never know how your print's gonna turn out but that can also be a pro because it's quite a nice surprise pulling the paint back and seeing your print. (I ended up forgetting to ask about the rest oops) Q: Would you say that this was the one you enjoyed the most: Yeah, mainly because my prints turned out well. Q. Which type of printmaking would you say is your least favorite to use? M: Probably screen printing, it's a bit of a faff to do. Um it's quite different and there are different ways to do screen printing but it usually involves using quite block colours, and it's quite abstract usually, or you can go quite minimalist but I don't really like it. It's quite messy as well There's a lot of preparation and a lot of cleaning. Q:So, looking again at your shark one that you showed me earlier, why a shark? why did you choose that?  M: At the beginning of the week we were given (in college) some secondary sources to work with so we went to brick lane, I used a shark because it linked to a hat that I bought from brick lane so I created the shark with a sort of grungy look that I got from brick lane. Um and there's loads of street art down there, on brick lane so I was inspired by that and I really like sharks anyway so I decided to draw an illustration of a shark, and produce it in a grungy way that sort of replicated brick lane street art.  Q: What would you do differently about that design if you could do it again? M: I was quite pleased with it but when you go on the internet and look at other peoples etchings you realize where you can improve on. So I think if maybe if I gave a more tone to it, cause lots of etchings you find on the internet have lots of contrast in dark and light but mine was a bit more based on the line and illustration so I think if I add more tone to it and gave it a darker, more tonal look it could have improved it more, and if I tried it on different surfaces as well.  ~Finished~	The second I heard about what we were doing for this assignment I already had this person on my mind as an interview subject. Mary is currently studying fine art as a uni foundation at Cambridge Regional College and is specializing in Printmaking at the moment which is why she was perfect to talk to. It was all well researching these methods but I needed to hear from someone who has actually done some of these methods themselves. I recorded the interview on my phone and then played it back and copied it into a transcript because I couldn’t upload the voice recording to this.
How does 3D printing work – YouTube video	https://youtu.be/UCI7BgLrk-4	This youtube video was a 7 minute long video which gave an insight into how 3D printing works. As someone who had no idea how it worked, it was useful to have someone on video explain to me how it worked. This was more helpful for the glossary research as it was a more in depth description of the method but the information from this video was used in both the glossary and the article.
A brief history on 3D printing	http://individual.troweprice.com/staticFiles/Retail/Shared/PDFs/3D_Printing_Infographic_FINAL.pdf	When you write about a particular method of printing it is a lot easier to do so once you know where it comes from. To write about its evolution from method to another I had to write about the history of 3D printing. This website was ever so useful because it had a timeline and everything.
Wikipedia	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etching	Wikipedia is the most accessible source of information on anything which is why I turned to it for etching. Wikipedia has a wide source of information which you can’t find anywhere else and I used this website particularly when researching my techniques for my glossary.

Print coursework - Glossary

Glossary

Hand:

Etching and Drypoint

Etching is a type of hand printing where the user cuts into substances such as plastic and metal to create images. Etching basically means to cut by pasting a layer of acid resistant paste onto the sheet and then the design is drawn in with an etching needle, after the plate is then dipped in acid which only effects the parts which had been scratched into, creating perfect groves for the into to trap itself in when it comes to printing the images on a material. A popular type of etching is called dry point etching which is where tiles of Perspex/acrylic plastic is scratched into using sand paper, special needles and craft knives. This is to create an image and after a thick ink is applied across the plastic. Using a cloth called scrim and tissue paper you then remove as much excess ink as possible. The scratches into the plastic however hold the ink in the groves. Damp paper is then used to print on through a printing press. After which it is left to dry in between layers of blotting paper and tissue paper for a day or two.

Pros

The main pro of these etching techniques is that the images that come out are that of the quality of an artist drawing on paper, they come out smooth and when it comes to production quality is everything.

Cons

A major con of this technique is that it can be quite dangerous for the user because of the use of acid and sharp objects. Another being that this technique is time consuming and you can only make one item at once.

Linocut

Linocut is a woodcut technique for printmaking in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted onto a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. A design is then carved into the linoleum with a sharp knife, after which the sheet is inked and the design is pressed onto paper. This technique is one of the easier ones as it doesn’t involve anything extra such as acid or fire.

Pros

The pro of this is that again it is very simple to do and isn’t all that time consuming depending on your design. Most importantly it isn’t dangerous (debatable about the knife).

Cons

The major con of this is how basic it is and you can’t do a massive lot of detail in your design as it simply wouldn’t work. This is why this type of printing would not be used in industry today for our more complex designs and the fact that we now have digital ways of doing the exact same thing at a faster pace.

Intaglio

In Intaglio printing, the lines to be printed are cut into a metal plate by means of a cutting tool called a burin. Using an etching needle, or a similar tool, the image is engraved into the ground, revealing the plate underneath. Ink is then rubbed into incised lines with felt dauber and after the ink is wiped of the surface with a tarlatan to get rid of the excess. The plate is then printed with damp paper and rolled through a printing press. This form of printmaking has died out in the print world and is now mostly used for stamps and bank notes, whereas before it was used for high quality magazines.

Pros

Intaglio is very fine when it comes to the strokes so it may get better results than say relief printing.

Cons

The major con for this method is that it isn’t as useful as many of the other methods; it’s not as clean cut which is why it is used little anymore. The printing needs specialist equipment which are going to make the whole process more expensive and again when there are other faster and cheaper methods there seems to be little point in splashing out.

Lithography

This type of hand printing is printing from a stone (limestone preferably) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It is used to print text or artwork onto paper. This is done with a printing plate with a relief image on it which is then dampened with water and then coated with ink. The ink only sticks to the parts of the plate which are not damp with water. The printing plate is then fixed onto a roller and then the roller is used to roll the image onto paper. These days Lithography is called offset printing and uses a machine to do all the work. It is used to do maps, books, newspapers and packaging.

Pros

In mass production this method is useful for things such as packaging, especially the machine version because of the rolling technique which is fast and thorough. It’s good for medium to long prints.

Cons

There aren’t many cons to this printing technique because of the amount it can do and it’s use for I, the only thing I can say is that because of it being able to produce so much there is more room for error.

Digital:

Digital printing

Digital printing is a printing device which eliminates the need for a printing plate by using a desktop to send a pdf file to create a solid substance with said printer. This usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers.

Pros

The Pros for this device is literally everything about it. The fact that so many different devices can do this just saves time in the printing room.

Cons

The expense of this is a con because it’s not designed for mass production which are the people who can buy them without breaking a sweat.

3D Printing

3D printing is where a file on the screen of a desktop is printed in physical 3D form. This is done by layering up layers of material with the printing device to create a solid 3D object. This type of printing is used for things such as phone cases, something that most people use today.

Pros

3D printing is something which has evolved over the past 20 years from laser printing; it’s an item which brings objects out of the computer right in front of your very eyes. It’s the only device which can do that.

Cons

There are no cons to this method.

Inkjet Printing

Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing which recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper, plastic or other substrates. These types of printers are used for mass production like a newspaper or a magazine because of how many coloured documents it can print quickly as opposed to a personal desktop printer.

Pros

It can produce a mass amount of documents at a time which is good for any large business or company.

Cons

None at all.

Desktop Printing

This type of printing is the creation of documents using page layout skills on a personal computer. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic quality text and images comparable to traditional typography and printing. This software would be used for magazine articles, used by editors.

Pros

It’s useful for individual work in the journalism industry.

Cons

It’s for personal use which means that not a whole lot of documents can be printed at once.

Print Coursework- Printmaking techniques Article for a fine arts magazine

The history of printmaking

                                            By Katie Friel

Variations of printmaking have been used by people for thousands upon thousands of years. It has a long history with many different cultures using it in different ways and discovering new techniques. From Britain to Rome, to China this form of art has been discovered and copied throughout history, forever adaption to social change and conflict, and these days have being updated for modern times. In fine art, printmaking is something that is widely used creatively for artistic purposes instead of practical purposes, and today methods such as dry point etching and screen printing are more common to the art student rather than the media press. Many of these techniques are tricky and have many advantages and disadvantages to their methods.

In the past, printmaking was used in industry to produce that which we would use machine for today, such as newspapers, books and other important documents. From the 14^th and 15^th century machines like the Printing press which used Letter press and was able to print on paper in mass production for things like newspapers. However these presses were worked by hand which would have restricted the production flow but at the time this invention had a massive impact in print, so much so that it was named as one of the three inventions that changed the world by English Philosopher Francis Bacon in 1620. And today we wouldn’t have the printing technology that we do without such an invention.  Intaglio is another older method of printing which was used around the same time as the Printing press and was used to create the designs for playing cards and artists made engravings of religious scenes with it; it was a very sacred art. Around the time of Intaglio’s invention (14^th-15^th century) printing methods were being invented and used left, right and centre so many of the Intaglio techniques were invented around this time by different people. These were methods such as stippling, which was various kinds of shading through the use of dots and cross hatching which were groups of parallel lines which were vertical to each other. A widely used technique called drypoint was invented and used at this point, this was a version of engraving which was used to give a softer look by using a needle which causes the metal either side of the engraving to rise next to it. This causes better engravings which hold more ink to produce a richer image however, the ridges wear down quite quickly which means that this method was not suitable for mass production. One of the most popular forms of Intaglio has to be Etching, a development in the 16^th century and a method which involves covering a metal plate with a layer of acid resistant material and using an etching needle to carve an image before dipping the plate in acid to reveal an image . This method is feels similar to drawing with a pencil and this is why it is so popular among many artists. Again this is more of an individual piece method and not used for mass production.

Today, printing is much different to how it was many centuries ago. For starters we have much more advanced technology which speed up any printing process used in mass production and sometimes even individual production.  These days Letterpress or the Printing Press machine are rarely used and the only way we see the Printing press is in a museum about the medieval era whereas letterpress is only used by graphic designers or artists who want to produce fine looking letters for an art piece or a book cover. These days if we wanted to print newspapers and magazines we would use Inkjet printing or Desktop printing. Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing which recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper, card or plastic; this printing is used widely in industry because it can produce a mass amount in a short amount of time. Desktop printing is a smaller computer printer which can produce typographic quality text and generate layouts. This is used typically for magazines in the media by editors before going into publishing. Since its invention Intaglio has been used less for big media artistic images and magazine covers since the invention of the Laser printer and has been reduced to the printing of things such as banknotes and stamps. However Etching, especially dry point etching and screen printing are still widely used around the globe for art, particularly fine art because its engraving method is about the closest thing you’re going to get to drawing on metal with a pencil, and you’re more likely to get the image you want with your own hands than with a machine. In more recent years the use of the laser has been used more frequently and for things it has never been used for before such as, for etching. This is a contact free method of etching which uses a laser machine to cut into the metal or plastic plate, it’s a lot safer than the traditional hand method as you are not handling substances such as acid. This is a method used more in industry than fine art because of its minimal contact and fast paced movement.  Another printing method which has come into use in the more recent years has been 3D printing, which evolved from the Inkjet laser printer so instead of printing with ink, it printed with materials. In the first few years it was released it had only been used to make prototypes and not to make real objects , this was because the objects made were not up to the right standard at the time. A 3D printer takes a file on a computer and creates a 3D objects out of it which are things today such as phone cases, something that mostly everyone wants or needs. This is done by layering up the material to form 3D objects. A 3D printer is expensive, it could range from £175,000- £250,000 but it makes the process much quicker and which is why most production companies have them. Digital screen printing is the evolution of the type of printing techniques which were traditionally used by hand such as screen printing. This method of printing isn’t just used in the media industry; it’s used in all different areas for things like printing on garments, curtains and banners. Before things like those listed above would have all had to be done by hand and would have been fairly time consuming.

To get a better understanding on the art of printmaking and its use today I interviewed a talented fine art student named Mary Wells. Mary is currently doing her University foundation in fine art and one of the types of art she has been studying has been printmaking, making her the perfect interviewee. I’ve known Mary for a number of years and have always known her to have a love for art and when I went to interview her I noticed that her room was completely covered in her own artwork pieces that she has created over the years, some dating back five or so years. On Sunday the 11^th October I sat down with her to ask her a few questions about Printmaking and she was more than happy to answer.  I sat down with Mary and asked her what her favourite method of printmaking was, to which she replied “My favourite would have to be dry point etching, which can be done using a metal copper plate or a plastic plate” this answer lead onto the next question I asked which was for her to give me a pro and con for the one she had just mentioned, “Dry point etching is the closest form of printmaking to drawing where you actually scratch into a material, the con to it is that if you do it with metal you have to use acid and you have to be quite careful because it can end up either ruining your work or ruining your hands, it's quite a long winded process and you never know how your print's gonna turn out but that can also be a pro because it's quite a nice surprise pulling the paint back and seeing your print.” Mary responded with a lot of description which was good for me because a lot of people would only have responded with five words or less. I then asked her about her artwork which she had shown me (picture below) of the shark which had been done with dry point etching on a plastic plate, and I asked her why that design? What inspired it?, to which she responded “At the beginning of the week we were given (in college) some secondary sources to work with so we went to brick lane, I used a shark because it linked to a hat that I bought from brick lane so I created the shark with a sort of grungy look that I got from brick lane. Um and there's loads of street art down there, on brick lane so I was inspired by that and I really like sharks anyway so I decided to draw an illustration of a shark, and produce it in a grungy way that sort of replicated brick lane street art.” The interview with Mary was very useful in giving me an idea of how these printing methods I researched are used in fine art and whether they are any good for certain pieces of art.

Printmaking has evolved rapidly over the centuries; we went from the most basic method of carving into wood and stone to using computerized equipment such as the laser printer and Inkjet printing. Printmaking is used in everything from fine art to business, to media and it’s always evolving.

 

Mary's Print work 

Reflective Journal #7

This session myself, Leyla and Jasmin worked on completing our Nuremberg article by putting all of our individual work together to complete two separate articles. We ended up putting myself and Jasmin's work onto one article and Leyla's onto a second. 
As well as this I completed my article on Halloween around the world for the college website which can also be seen below on my blog. This was basically all I did this week which doesn't seem like  a lot but I was not present for the majority of the week due to being quite ill. There isn't anything more to write here so until next time.