Printmaking

Techniques

Relief Printing

Woodcutting: The printmaker has traditionally used knives and gouges to cut away the wood in order to produce a surface that can be covered in ink ready for the image to be transferred to the paper.
Wood engraving: This technique differs from the wood cut in that the end grain surface, rather than the plank, is used. In other words, the wood cut is produced by cutting along the grain of the wood. This example shows piece of box wood which is very hard and will give very fine detail. It has been prepared for engraving.
In very general terms, this means that a wood engraving will contain finer detail than a wood cut.
Wood engraving became popular for reproducing illustrations from the end of the eighteenth century.
Early prints were produced on wooden presses, but from the start of the nineteenth century the metal press was introduced. The Albion and the Columbian were the main types of press. This is an example of an Albion.
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Return to the History of PrintmakingThis page gives several examples of prints made by wood cutting and wood engraving.Return to lithographyThis page is still under construction