Printing Techniques

The prints are of two types, Intaglio (the dry points and etchings) and Relief ( the woodcuts). All of them are hand printed, the intaglio, using a small press and the woodcuts by placing a piece of paper over the block and burnishing it. The editions are small, between six and 16 prints each.

Relief (Woodcut)
There are several forms of woodcut, the method used here was developed in Japan. It involves cutting away areas of wood not to be printed, and painting the areas left with a combination of pigment and thin rice paste. Specialist Japanese paper is first dampened, then placed face down on the inked block and burnished. With multi-coloured prints, each colour requires a separate block, and they are printed on top of each other, in a sequence which will produce the required result.

Intaglio (Dry point, etching)
Intaglio prints are made by cutting grooves into metal (usually) and then rubbing printing ink into the grooves, wiping the top surface clean, placing dampened paper over the plate, and running it through a press under high pressure.
With a dry point, the lines are cut using a very sharp point and muscle power. For an etching, Nitric (or other) acid is used to do the work, but they are printed in the same way.

Gilly Hatch painting, 2016