Técnicas de grabado

ENGRAVING TECHNIQUES

WOODCUTTING

Woodcutting or wood engraving is one of the oldest printing techniques.

Oriental in origin, it arrived in Europe via the Arabs and the Crusaders.

Drawing is done directly onto a previously prepared board of wood.

Using gouges, chisels or knives, the artist hollows out the spaces between

the lines of the drawing, so that they are raised and ready to be inked.

As with intaglio, in woodcutting only the raised lines are reproduced.

The parts hollowed out by the engraver are blank.

Although it is customary to use a press, woodcut printing can be done

by putting pressure on the underside of the paper by hand.

During the 19th Century, woodcutting was the most favored technique for image reproduction

in books, newspapers and pamphlets.

In multicolor woodcuts, a separate board must be engraved

for each color.

INTAGLIO

Metal engraving or intaglio began to be used in the late 15th Century.

Intaglio can be performed using direct, dry techniques

in which the artist works without the use of acids,

or indirect, wet techniques such as etching and aquatint.

Drypoint intaglio consists of tracing a drawing onto the metal plate

with a sharp instrument.

The grooves opened up by the engraver and the metal burrs

then retain the ink and create shaded areas characteristic of this technique.

Carbon black is used to verify the work done.

Inking is done by exerting pressure with a roller so that the ink penetrates

the previously opened grooves.

To facilitate the absorption of ink, the paper is slightly dampened.

Etching is the source of all wet techniques

and began to be used at the end of the 16th Century.

The metal plate is protected on both sides with a special varnish

that is not affected by acid.

On the varnished plate, the artist traces the image he wishes to reproduce.

After that, the varnish is lifted with a stylus,

exposing only the lines of the drawing.

The plate is immersed in an acid bath, which depending on the immersion time

attacks, to a greater or lesser extent, the strokes made, but leaves intact the areas

protected by the varnish.

Once the process is complete, the varnish is removed and the plate is beveled and raised.

For the ink to penetrate well, it is pressed with a roller.

Ink is removed from those areas where there are no incisions.

The print is made on previously dampened paper.

LITHOGRAPHY

The technique of lithographic printing was born in Germany at the end of the 18th Century.

On a porous stone, the artist traces the image to be reproduced with pencil or fatty inks,

and sprinkles talc over it.

The pores of the stone have already absorbed the fat with which the drawing was made.

This preparation consisting of water, gum arabic and acid is fixed only on

oily areas that repel water.

This is the foundation of any lithographic process,

the antagonism between water and oil.

When the preparation has dried, a solvent removes the residue and exposes

only the original image.

The fixation can be reinforced by one or more layers of high-fat products

such as bitumen.

The plate is ready for inking.

On the surface of the stone, the ink is fixed only on the greasy parts

previously treated.

The fat-free areas, which have no drawing, repel the ink.

Lithography was one of the most used techniques in the mass reproduction of

images during the 19th Century.