Original Prints

Over the last few years, I have been making original intaglio and relief prints. An original print is a printed impression produced from a block, plate, stone, or screen on which the artist has worked. A number of identical images, each one a hand-made original by the artist, is possible. Printmaking originated in China after paper was invented around AD 105. Relief and intaglio printing appeared in Europe around the 15th century, when the process of papermaking was imported from the East. Relief is the process of cutting into a surface (usually wood or linoleum) and then inking and printing the surface, such as a stamp. Intaglio is the process of incising an image into a surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the opposite of relief. Intaglio printing must be done on a printing press so that dampened paper can be pushed into the inked recesses. Relief printing can be done by hand or on a press. I have also been experimenting with monotype using a gel plate. As the name implies these prints produce only one original with each pass. I like combining printing techniques, such as monotype and relief to achieve a complex surface with the gel plate that contrasts with the sharp lines and shapes of relief or intaglio.