“Printmaking” may bring to mind ancient presses, copper plates and a very large man with beefy forearms and a long, dirty apron. So it was from about the 12th Century up to the mid-1960’s when modern-day ingenuity brought the printmaking press out of a barn-sized room to a manageable space – and now into your home or studio. Today, printmaking lives! Indeed, it thrives!

Small but efficient, and budget-priced, printmaking presses are designed to reside in very small spaces. Home from the office and dinner over, you head for your studio and your very own creative press…or this is your life work and home is where your press is.

Today’s creative press artisan still takes advantage of the processes employed by masters such as Rembrandt, Durer, Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Whistler, but now, digital transfer has been added to the mix. Plates of linoleum, plastics, and Plexiglas are used as well as zinc, copper, brass and other metals. Fabrics sometimes replace paper.

“Intaglio” is the most common form of printmaking, and “Engraving” is the most common technique of Intaglio (as well as the oldest). Etching, Drypoint, Mezzotint, Aquatint and Stipple are all Intaglio techniques.

Other popular methods of printmaking are Bas-Relief (Relief) and Planography, also known as Lithography.

Bas-Relief generally uses wood and linoleum cuts but a new form, known as Collography, is growing in popularity. Varied materials are placed on a rigid surface, such as cardboard or wood, in a collage-like manner. The raised surfaces are then inked and printed.

Planography or Lithography (“litho” meaning “stone”) uses a level surface. The image is drawn on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy water-repellant substance. When the plate or stone is moistened, the ink is absorbed by the greasy substance, only.

Owning your own printmaking press has many advantages: The printmaker is no longer confined to borrowing, renting or joining a facility just for the use of a press, your investment may have desirable tax consequences and when an inspiration nudges, your press is right there. Prices range from $60.00 to $3,600.00.

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