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PRINT MEDIUMS

A good standard definition of an original print comes from the Print Council of America.  There are three conditions that a print should generally satisfy in order to be accepted as an original.  These include:

1. The artist alone has created the master image in or upon the plate, stone, wood block, or other material for the purpose of creating the print.

2. The print is made from the said materials by the artist or pursuant to his directions.

3. The artist approves the finished print.

Original prints are produced by various processes.  These brief explanations are given to help clarify the terms used to describe works in this auction.

            ETCHING:  A process in which a plate of zinc, copper, or steal is covered with a waxy resin and etched into with a needle or some other sharp tool.  This plate is then placed in an acid bath and all of the exposed areas where the resin has been scratched away dissolve and create indentations in the plate, which hold the ink for placement on paper.

            ENGRAVING:  A process of scratching a metal plate but no chemicals are used to deepen the grooves.

            SILKSCREEN:  A silkscreen (also known as serigraph) is made by stretching silk mesh over a wooden frame, blocking out chosen areas, and forcing the ink through unblocked areas.

LITHOGRAPH:  An image is drawn on Mylar, metal or marble with a grease crayon.  The entire surface is dampened with water and a roller with ink is applied to the surface.  The grease crayon areas absorb the ink and the moistened areas repel the ink

            PHOTO-OFFSET: A reproduction of an original piece of art (usually a watercolor or oil).  It is a photo-mechanical way of producing a copy.  A photo offset is not an original.

            EMBOSSING:  A process by which the surface of the picture is raised by placing the paper on a sculptured mold and pressing the shapes into its surface.

            CANVAS TRANSFER:  A relatively new art medium favored by artists and publishers to market their prints. Canvas Transfers are made by removing the image of a print through a chemical process and then mounting this image on high quality artist canvas in a way that the texture of the canvas comes through making it look like the image is painted on the canvas.  After the transfer clear acrylic gel brushstrokes are applied to give the work extra texture and a three-dimensional feel. Transfers are all done using pH neutral materials to avoid yellowing and are all UV protected to resist fading.  Sometimes an image is printed directly onto a piece of canvas rather than onto a piece of paper and sometimes an image on the paper is glued and pressed onto a canvas so that the texture of the canvas appears on the print. Also known as P.O.C. - Print On Canvas.

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