Glossary

Encaustic
Painting done with pigment mixed with beeswax and blended with heat.

Etching
Technique where a soft ground is laid on a copper or tin metal plate, and using a sharp etching tool, the artist draws through the ground, exposing the metal plate. The lines of exposed metal are then "bitten" in an acid bath. The strength of the acid and the length of time the plate is bathed determines the depth of the lines. After the ground is removed the artist inks the plate, making sure that the etched lines are filled with ink. The excess ink is wiped away, the plate placed, face up on the press and the paper face down. The pressure of the heavy rollers on the press is so great it leaves the impression of the plate on the paper and pushes the ink onto the surface.

Giclee
Computer controlled, fine art print making process. Similar to the look of a serigraph but no screens are used. It uses a very fine spray of ink, 15 microns in size, about 4 times smaller than a human hair. The microscopic jet-stream is controlled by a crystal frequency. The print is then coated with up to 15 layers of waterproof U.V. varnishes.

Lithography
A special photomechanical technique in which the image to be printed is transferred to the negative plates and printed onto papers.

Mixed media
A technique involving the use of two or more artistic media such as ink and pastel or painting and collage. The various media are combined to create one composition.

Oil paint
A slow drying paint made when pigments are mixed with an oil, linseed oil being the most traditional. The oil dries with a hard film and the brightness of the colours are protected.

Serigraph
Basically a stencil or silkscreen process. Was given the name after WW1, by a noted art historian, Carl Zigrosser. It was established as an art form in the 1950's. A direct printing process, the image isn't reversed like in lithography. A screen of silk, nylon or wire mesh is tightly stretched across a frame. A design is made in stencil form on the mesh by blocking out portions. The remaining open areas will let the ink through to the paper below. Another method of stencil making; using tusche and glue, where the artist draws on the screen with tusche, then coats the entire area with a fast-drying glue. The tusche is dissolved and the hard glue forms the stencil. You could also use a series of acetate overlays. One overlay for each color. The artist draws the image on the overlay with a light-blocking substance. Then the printer exposes the image and the light passes through the acetate. This process called, "cutting" the screen leaves the stencil.