TheElegantArtist: From the artist: All about Printmaking

I love to create. Housework, not so much. If you have not checked out my Etsy shop lately, you are missing out! Free shipping on all in stock artwork. That is just awesome.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/theelegantartist

I hand drew these scenes on a rectangular metal plate when I was attending Old Dominion University's Art Education program. the drawings were for my printmaking class. We were specifically studying Intaglio print making.

Want to learn more about the Intaglio Print process? Read this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intaglio_(printmaking)

These prints were hand drawn in several stages while I attended Old Dominion University's Art Education program. I had a blast there! Great teachers, friends and lots of Art. What could be better?

http://www.deborahkunic.com/EtchingProcess.html

Anyway, the drawing additions were combined with a series of acid baths. These baths removed portions of the metal creating channels or pools in the shape of the drawing.

http://orangeexplainsitall.blogspot.com/2010/05/back-to-printmaking.html

The ink was then hand rubbed into the channels. The metal printing plate was then lined up with high quality Reeves BFK paper and hand pressed.

https://s-media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/da/27/52/da2752051fed3cddadfa847a8f449769.jpg

A Heidelberg press was used. Fancy, huh? It was a great process to learn. Slow going, but it made me appreciate the art processes that used to be new "technology"!

Intaglio Printing Press

http://alexandershum.blogspot.com/2012/02/gutenburg-press-1450-ad.html

Each print is one of a kind due to variations inherent in the lithography process. Small wrinkles of the paper or dots of ink are desirable and expected in this fine art process. The speed of the hand cranked printing press and the thickness of the paper, water content and amount of ink used can all change each "copy," or print.

A proof is one of a kind. The detailed drawing varies from the printed series of drawings. If you are looking at a print within a series, it will be numbered 1/5 or 4/6. The second number indicates the total number of prints made from the plate. The first number indicates the order of the exact print you are looking at.