Monotypes

With printing ink an image is placed (painted, rollered, rubbed...) onto a smooth metal or glass plate.  A piece of paper is placed on top and both are passed through a press.  This way the image is transferred from the smooth surface onto the paper.  This can only be done once at most twice, hence the name monotype.

A piece of lino is cut or etched with an image.  Ink is rolled thinly onto the surface and then with a piece of paper on top pressure is applied.  The image is transferred from the raised surface of the lino plate, therefore it is also called a relief printing process.

This process uses the fact that metal corrodes in acid and in preparing an etching plate the printer carefully tries to control this process, to make marks that reflect his image.  Those areas of the metal plate that are to stay smooth and therefore will print white, must be protected during the etching  in the acid.  Only the recesses and lines on the etching plate make up the image, as the ink is squeezed out onto the paper while going through a press.  Etching is also called an intaglio process.

A collagraph plate is prepared by creating textures on a piece of card.  This could be scrunched up tissue paper, string, leaves, sand... the choice is endless.  This plate can either be printed by rolling ink on thinly or by rubbing ink into the textures.  The name collagraph is related to the word collage.

A lithograph is printed either from a stone or metal plate and is transferred onto these by using special paint or crayons.  The printing surface is then prepared in such a way that the marks which hold the image attract the oil based ink and the areas which are to print white, will repell the ink.