#production techniques

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

Silk screen printing – http://www.ehow.com/about_5079653_history-silk-screen-printing.html

Photocopy history – http://www.ehow.com/about_5418838_history-photocopy.html

Inkjet history – http://www.inkshop.co.uk/history_of_inkjet_printers.php

When did Desktop publishing come around? –http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/beginners/f/when_dtp.htm

A whole history Desktop Publishing –http://desktoppub.about.com/od/history/a/volumeprinting.htm

What is Screen printing? – http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-digital-screen-printing.htm

Woodcut – http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/printmaking/woodcuts.htm