Gallery's Favorite Techniques

Classic Printing Techniques

As we all know, to the artist, printing is a very important process. We often use methods of printing in our work. We may use various items to make impressions into our work to create texture, which is very similar to the original method of printing. Or we may use sophisticated equiptment to make "prints" of our work. At any rate, it is a good idea for the artist to familiarize his or herself with printing methods. We wish to examine a few of these classic methods.

The original prints.

Printing was first used in ancient babylonia, as a form of signature. Thus we get the signet rings of today. These were made of stone or clay, with letters or emblems carved or etched into their surfaces. They would press these items onto a surface to leave an impression.

In early years, books were past on and preserved through the art of hand-writing them. This was mostly used with books and documents of a religous nature. Thus we have the "scribes" of the bible. In ancient Rome these books were often written by slaves.

In China, it was the Buddist religion that most contributed to the development of printing. Buddist often copied their prayers and sacred texts, and wanted to have a means of mass production. Coupled with the development of paper by the chinese in 105A.D., this made for favorable conditions for the onset of printing. Paper, as opposed to papyrus or vellum, was both strong and cheap. Papyrus was not strong and vellum, an animal by-product, was too expensive for mass production. Ancient Chinese methods consisted mostly of letters and pictures carved into wooden blocks, similar to the older signet method.

European Methods. European printing came much later.(around the 15th century) and used metal printing presses. They also used oil-based inks. The design for these "early presses" was copied from the old wooden winepress.

Johann Gutenberg is known as the father of modern printing techniques. Although Dutch and French historians have some decention as to the accuracy of this title, his books were of a far better quality than theirs. He is most known for the Gutenberg Bible.

In future updates, we will examine other techniques of art and techniques which contribute to art. If there is a particular subject which interests you, don't hesitate to E-mail us.

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