Print based media production techniques and technology

print production, Research, terminology

Woodcut
Definition: a print made from a block of wood which is widely used for illustrations in books.

  • Second century A.D., when paper had evolved in the Chinese mainland; this made the stamping devices emerge into wood blocks
  • Sixth century A.D., woodcut came to Japan from China
  • The earliest woodcut design has been etched back to before 220 A.D.
  • 14th century was when woodcut started to unfold
  • 15th century, woodcut began to grow and appear in illustrated books
  • 17th century, woodcut became more developed
  • Advantages: calms you down, relieving. Much simpler than intaglio or lithography. Only low pressure is needed to make a print.
    Disadvantages: demands increased which would make it hard to get all the equipment. If the lines were too thin, the wood would crumble.Screen Process

    • Originated in early prints, woodcuts, and block prints of the Chinese during the Song Dynasty (960 A.D.-1279 A.D.)
    • The Japanese were also in charge of the early designs of screen process in the 15th and 16th century
    • The screen process we use today, were made by English and American artists in the early 1900s
    • 1914, John Pilsworth took out a patent for multi-colour printing using screen process

    Advantages: easy to find tutorials online. Anyone can do it if they have all the equipment. Saves money.
    Disadvantages: does take time to improve, the first one you make won’t be perfect unless you learn from your mistakes. Making sure you have all the equipment and the right picture to copy. Doesn’t save time.

    Gravure

    • Gravure printing started being made in the 1300s
    • 1852, the use of textile in the photographic process to create half-tones in the printing plate
    • the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company was founded in 1895
    • In the 19th century, developments were made in photography which allowed the production of photo-mechanical printing plates
    • 1906, marketed the first multi-colour gravure print

    Used to make wallpaper; packaging; giftwrap; magazines; greeting cards; advertising.
    Advantages: wallpapers would be easier to produce because there is high volume printing. Saves the trouble of making your own. Have the perfect designs in the press of a button. Uses fast drying ink.
    Disadvantages: may take time and money to find the perfect designs. Constantly checking if you have all the materials. Checking the quality is still the same in the size you need it.

    Intaglio

    • Was used for playing cards made in Germany which are dated back to (rounded up to) late 1430s
    • Was developed by famous German artist, Alberecht Durer in 1500
    • Drypoint (a steel needle for engraving on a bare copper plate without acid) was also invented in Germany in 1500
    • The golden age of artists was 1450-1550
    • Today, intaglio is used for paper or plastic currency, banknotes, passports, and some expensive stamps, it might be mimicked on Wedding invitations

    Advantages: used for multiple productions: paper; plastic currency; banknotes; passports; expensive stamps; wedding invitations. Cheap. Calming. Very long plate life. High quality.
    Disadvantages: high demand.

    Letterpress

    • The first English book was printed using letterpress (in 1473), the inventor (Johann) believes that it made more people start to learn more English to say and write
    • Johann Gutenberg released letterpress in the 15th century
    • 18th century, John Baskerville had found a way to make paper more clear, and more smoother to make the letterpress look better when it’s finished
    • By the 20th century, letterpress was fully developed

    Advantages: easy to print and design what you want.
    Disadvantages: expensive products would be needed to make it perfect.

    Etching
    Definition: the process of making designs on a metal plate which uses the corrosive action of an acid.

    • Invented by a German artist, Daniel Hopfer
    • The first etching is dated back from 1513
    • Over 500 years old
    • Etching is still widely practised today

    Advantages: still widely practised today. Many circuits can be etched at once, very quickly. All etchings can be identical.
    Disadvantages: if the circuit needs to be updated, then it would have to be re-designed, re-etched from scratch. Etching can also be harmful to the environment.

    Photocopying

    • Earlier on (1778) a German scientist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg made a dry electrostatic printing process, but it never caught on
    • Photocopying started as a long, wet and messy process, people would rather rely on making longhand copies of documents
    • Chester Carlson (1906 to 1968) is the maker of the modern photocopier, after conducting a number of experiments; he finally found a solution. He rubbed a handkerchief over a sulphur-coated aluminium plate, then he exposed the plate to make a copy of the image on a piece of paper
    • 1950 was when the first photocopier was sold, the Haloid Xerox Copier, however the name changed to just Xerox in 1960, to symbolise their company’s name change.

    Advantages: no sketching is needed, you can just have a copy of the original. Very easy to use. Saves time.
    Disadvantages: people preferred to rely on longhand copies, still depends on you checking there is enough ink and paper. Doesn’t save money.

    Lithography

    • Discovered in 1799
    • In 1817, the process was able to become easier when Senefelder designed a press to automatically dampen and ink the plate
    • The first lithograph appeared in the US in 1819, which made the demand for lithography printing increase tremendously
    • 1837, litho colour printing was discovered by Godefroy Engelmann
    • 1855, Alphonse Louis Poitevin made photolithography
    • By 1971, there was over 450 hand operated with 30 steam presses in the US

Advantages: became easier, anyone can do it, easy to find tutorials online.
Disadvantages: need to have all the equipment. Time and money consuming. Finding somewhere to put finished work.

Screen print
Definition: putting ink or metal onto a surface through a prepared screen of materials which creates the picture or pattern.

  • Was first used in mediaeval Japan
  • Moved to France in the 18th century, used for stencilling patterns onto fabrics and objects; shoes
  • In the 19th century, it remained an easy process to use on fabrics
  • Until 1950, it remained a hand done process
  • In the 20th century, it was later used for posters, other merchandising and packaging

Advantages: Easy to use, can make posters, merchandising or other packaging. Saves money.
Disadvantages: Takes practise to perfect, pictures have to be the right size to fit the designs. Not economically practical for small press runs.

Linocut
Definition: relief printing. A design is carved into a piece of linoleum which is then inked with brayer. The print is made by placing a sheet of paper on top, making the ink transfer to the paper.

  • Invented in 1863
  • In 1890, it became easier to make because equipment became cheaper, and it was seen as easy
  • In 1925, the Grosvenor School of Modern Art was opened and classes of art on linocut were taught by Claude Flight, who later (1929) succeeded in curating the First Exhibition of British Linocuts
  • Prints for linocut were starting to be produced in 1940
  • The standard size of linocut prints in 1945 was 12 by 18 inches
  • In late 1950, Pablo Picasso improved linocuts by developing the printmaking technique

Advantages: equipment became cheaper. There are classes to take to get better. Much easier to cut than wood.
Disadvantages: seen as easy. Not quite as durable as wood. Specific materials are needed. Anything you put on your linocut will be backwards when printed.

Laser printing

  • 1969 – Gary Starkweather demonstrated with a laser beam with a xerography process (dry photocopying technique) to create a laser printer
  • Introduced in 1975
  • 1979 – IBM introduces the new IBM 3800 laser printer which was capable of printing 20,000 lines per minute
  • In 1984 laser printing had its first inkjet
  • 1985 – Apple releases their own line of laser printers (Apple LaserWriter)
  • 1993 – HP introduces their own line of laser printers (HP LaserJet 4ML laser printer)

Advantages: easy to print out whatever you want on paper, doesn’t take too long to print. Very easy to use, you can have the same printer for years and it would still work.
Disadvantages: expensive, and you have to keep replacing the paper and ink. Keep an eye on the ink, as some pictures can take more ink than others.

Inkjet

  • Printer companies started to recognise that inkjets would be the evolution of the future in 1970, however it was hard to make a printer with inkjets that wasn’t expensive
  • Siemens invented an inkjet that only sprayed where needed in 1977, it was less expensive but it took much longer
  • Canon and Hewlett Packard were able to fix the problems of losing a lot of ink, and the print head becoming clogged with dried ink in late 1980s, however this took a lot of trial and error, where they would have to credit other companies for the help
  • Hewlett Packard’s inkjet printers (1988) used to cost around £500, but now you can easily get one for £65
  • Inkjet printers were only accepted by 1990

Advantages: they are the evolution of the future, they’re cheap, ink isn’t wasted.
Disadvantages: they weren’t accepted into society until 1990. The printhead would become clogged with dried ink. Inkjets used to be expensive and they would waste ink until 1977.

Desktop publishing

  • Before the Typesetting Linotype machines were made in 1880, we would have to make by hand
  • 1984, The Apple Macintosh was introduced
  • 1985, Albus developed PageMaker on Mac to make the first desktop publishing application
  • 1987, a PageMaker for Windows computers was introduced

Softwares to use: Photoshop; InDesign; PagePlus; Microsoft Publisher; SmartDraw; Xara Page; Print Artist; PrintMaster; Viva Designer
Advantages: very easy to do, with tutorials online, anyone can do it and there are a range of products for desktop publishing.
Disadvantages: the professional products to help make work better, like Photoshop are expensive. Can take up a lot of space on the computer. You may need a range of products to make a blog look how you want it to.

Bibliography

 

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