Lets' face it, there will be times when you will actually dream of buying an oil or watercolor painting. What about buying a print instead? This could be a nightmare unless you know the value of your purchase.

This newsletter issue will help you to make the right diagnosis when it comes to selecting a quality print. Keep this information as a reliable reference.

A FEW BASIC PRINTMAKING TECHNIQUES

RELIEF PRINTING
This is an old technique. A block of wood, linoleum, or some other substance with a smooth, flat surface is use. All of the flat surface except the image itself is cut away. The image becomes a flat raised surface that stands out from the background. When ink is rolled onto the block's surface only the image receives ink. When the wood block or linoleum cut is printed on paper the image appears in reverse.

INTAGLIO PRINTING
Engraving, drypoint, and etching are all intaglio techniques. Lines and tones are hand-cut or acid-etched into the flat surface of the printing plate. I then spread ink over the plate and wipe off the surface so that the ink only remains on the incised design. The plate is placed face up on an etching press; a sheet of paper is placed over the plate and covered with felt blankets. The whole thing is rolled through the press delivering ink from the incised lines to the paper.

SCREEN PRINTING
Commonly called SERIGRAPHY (seri-means silk) This process historically used silk fabric stretched on printmaking screens. But now more effective screen fabrics are used. A stencil is cut out and attached to the fabric screen. When ink is squeezed through the screen to the paper on the other the side the stencil protects the areas where the artist wants does not want ink. Thus a design is formed. The resulting image is called a stencil or pochoir print.

MONOTYPES or MONOPRINTS
If the artist develops a flat unaltered printing surface and makes a single print, it is called a monotype. The imaging is executed in two basic methods; subtractive and additive. In the subtractive method the surface of the plate is completely inked then the image is wiped from the dark field.

In the additive method the image is painted directly onto a light field with brushes, rollers or even fingers. Works that combine monotype with other printmaking techniques are called monoprints. Currently there is a growing interest in developing handmade prints with a unique image.

OFFSET PRINTING
This is the most commonly known method. Offset printing means that the image on the plate was initially printed on one surface and transferred to another surface for the final printing. Offset printing is really useful for prints involving a lot of colors done with multiple plates.

ARTISTS' PROOFS
As the printmaking surface is developed, proofs are pulled to study the state they are in. These proofs are labeled 1st state, 2nd state. The first proofs pulled from the completed surface are labeled AP for artist's proofs. Up to 10 percent of the edition can be made ethically as artist's proofs. The smaller the edition, the more valuable each print in the edition. This is why too many artist's proofs would mislead the serious collector who wants to know how may prints were in the total edition.

Occasionally, a publisher will "stretch" an edition by pulling an excessive number of artist's proofs for a seemingly small edition. Another trick is to issue an edition for the US, for example, 250 and then another 250 for a place outside of the US. now the edition size is 500. This brings up another popular issue:

LIMITED EDITIONS
The artist determines the total number of the actual edition, not including the proofs, before all the prints are done. As the prints are made they are numbered in sequence and this number is placed over the total of the edition in the margin of the print surface. The notation is a fraction. For example if 20 intaglio prints were made the notation would read 1/20 for the first print pulled. A collector considers the early prints pulled to be more valuable. However, this is not always the case. The artist usually signs and numbers an edition after the entire edition is pulled. Most likely impression number 1/100 was actually the last pulled and ended up on top of the stack.

Also note that high print editions, for example, 1,000 should not be considered as valuable as the lower editions. It could really be considered an open-edition. An open-edition can be done over and over and does not have the same collector value as some of the other type of prints. But if you want the image-go for it!

HAND-PRINTED CARDS AND BOOKS
All prints are not framed and hung. Prints can be made into cards and books. Several years ago I began doing cards. But I haven't done a book yet I'm waiting for my wife to finish her series of poems and children stories..

PAPER
Fine art prints should be done on good paper. The paper should never be a thin weight and always acid free. When paper is acid free it won't turn funny colors like costume jewelry. It depends on the amount of pH in its fibers. (7 pH is neutral, 0 pH is highly acid). Papers with less that 5.4 pH lose strength and disintegrate. The gallery or artist will know about the paper quality and should be asked. Remember it's more than just the image.

IS RICE PAPER MADE FROM RICE?
No. Rice paper is actually not a paper. The thin white material commonly associated with Oriental paper making is made from the pith of a plant grown in Formosa and not by a pulp process, as in paper.

WOVEN PAPER?
Wove has no connection with weaving. The terms wove paper or laid paper describes the type of screen used to make the paper in the mold.

WHAT IS DECKLE EDGE?
Deckle edge is the "hairy" irregular edges on a sheet of handmade paper. These endings occur when pulp runs out under the deckle frame. Deckle edges were, at one time, were cut off. But today we consider them a sign of quality. So keep an eye on those edges.

MAKE SURE YOUR PRINT IS SIGNED!
Randy Rosen, an expert on print collecting, states "...The difference between a signed and an unsigned print by a major artist can be a matter of hundreds, even thousands of dollars".

Most artists, myself included, sign their prints in pencil. It is difficult to detect a printed signature under glass signed in ink. The whole purpose is to authenticate its quality for the buyer.

WHAT AM I DOING?
I have several prints that fall in some of the above categories. The open edition color and black and white prints have been very successful. The goal of these prints was to provide artwork for clients that liked the image but could not afford an original yet.

I am also excited about my current limited edition I am working on. I am working on several plates and getting ready to pull the proofs.

Look out for them!