Woodcut and Intaglio Printmaking Techniques
Woodcut
Fiber and very smooth, often used pieces of wood are holly and boxwood, especially from Turkey. This wood is harder than that used in the “straight” technique and thus is carved with a chisel (usually a metal tool). By using chisels, fine lines appear in the resulting picture as a white line drawing. This is opposite to the black line drawing of the woodcut in a row and thus, pictorial engravings can be achieved in the woodcut. Another advantage is that there is no size limit: in the “straight” technique, the limit is the width of the trunk; in the “to the shell” technique, multiple tables can be joined.
Another important feature is that it became the most widely used technique for book illustrations.
Color Xylography
At first, woodcuts were hand-colored by customer demand. The love of color led to investigations into how to insert the colors in the printing process.
In 1457, Pietro Schoffer used a simple system: he introduced a carved and inked plate with one color, and another smaller plate inked with a different color, and then set them all down. When taste for the woodcut was revived in the twentieth century, this system was used again.
One feature of the system is that the inks were flat, making it impossible to achieve volume or lighting effects.
In the early sixteenth century, another system was invented in which multiple arrays of separately carved wood were used and recorded one after another on the same sheet. The plates must match each other perfectly. This system allows for effects similar to those of line drawing (camaieu), named for the cameos they recall. It was used for a short time, especially by German artists. Watercolor (chiaroscuro) was primarily used in Italy until the eighteenth century, and the procedure is described by Vasari in the CV (1, chap. XXI).
Process of Realization of a Two-Color Xylography
Japanese Woodcuts in Color
Basically, it follows the described system, based on the use of different inks to achieve effects similar to watercolor.
It started in Japan between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and was gradually refined to employ ten or more plates. The drawings were made with the utmost care on tissue paper sheets, and these were glued to wooden boards. Once the drawings were marked on the plates, they were carved by skillful engravers. Following this, the arrays were tinted with watercolors.
Finally, each array was printed on the same sheet.
Intaglio
From χαλκός (bronze, copper) and γραφή (writing), it is the art of stamping with engraved metal plates.
- Engravings
- Drawing
- Matrix
Intaglio Press
Important Note: If the paper is larger than the plate, it leaves a slight gap at the edges, forming what is known by the term “footprint”.
Copper Engraving: Action on the Recorded
- a. Leaf Measurement
- b. Plate Footprint Measurement
- c. Recorded Image Measurement
There are three measurements in engraving:
- a. The leaf.
- b. The footprint of the plate: Marking of the plate on the paper when it is larger than the plate.
- c. The recorded image: Generally, it is smaller than the extent of the plate and is bounded by a frame line (trait carré, borderline). This action is essential and is usually collected in catalogs.
It may be that the image extends around the plate, and in this case, there is no frame line, and the track measures of the plate and the recorded image match.