Print Media
Printmaking can be done on a multitude of media, almost anything that can take ink. Most commonly printing is done on paper, although cloth, wood, and leather are some other possible materials to print on. If ink will stick, it can be used as print meida.
Inks
Ink is a pigment or dye that is suspended in a liquid that when dried leaves behind the pigment on the media. Paint is very similar where tends to be made with different physical properties, such as viscosity or pigment to liquid ratio, there isn’t a strong defining characteristic that separates the two. Dye on the other hand, typically is mixed in a solution with a liquid and bonds differently to the media. Where ink leaves a colored film on the media, the dye becomes part of the media and alters the color of the media. That explanation is overly simplistic but helps illustrate the general difference between them. Typically, in printmaking ink is used. However, there are specific materials which are designed to make, for example, acrylic paint able to be used in silk screening (GAC 9000). Pretty much any fluid that has the properties for a particular process can be used, including dyes.
Types of Ink
There are a few different types of fluids that are typically used in printing. The most common are water-based inks, oil-based inks, and plastic-based inks (plastisol). Water-based inks can be either permanent or washable, with the others typically being permanent. There are some other inks that don’t fall neatly into those categories as well, such as water-washable oil-based inks, discharge ink (similar to bleach), and dye-attractant inks (like the opposite of bleach).
Types of Printing
The two most common types of printmaking are screen printing and block printing. Screen printing uses a screen stretched over a frame where ink is applied and a squeegee is used to force the ink through onto the substrate. Most often times a design is left open on a screen by blocking the rest of the screen by using an emulsion chemical which hardens on the portions of the screen that are not meant to be printed. Block printing involves getting ink on a block or plate and transferring that ink to the media by touching them together, typically under pressure. Block printing has a lot of variants described below.
- Screen
- Relief
- Block
- Leno
- Letterpress
- Lithographic
- Intaglio
- Chincole’
Print Media:
- Paper
- Ink
- Paint
- Fabric
Printing Supplies:
Screen Printing:
- Screens:
- Squeegees:
- Emulsion:
Relief:
- Blocks (wood):
- Blocks (lino):
- Stamps (rubber):
- Brayers:
- Barens:
- Wood type letters
- Lead type letters
- Art cuts and magnesium blocks
Suppliers/Supply sources:
- Daiso (weekly coupons available; online and local)
- Michaels (weekly coupons available; online and local)
- Joann (weekly coupons available; online and local)
- Hobby Lobby (weekly coupons available)
- Amazon (online)
- Blick Art Supply (online)
