5.1 Relief and Intaglio Printmaking: Matrix Preparation, Inking, and Printing Mechanics

Relief and Intaglio Printmaking: Matrix Preparation, Inking, and Printing Mechanics

Printmaking represents a foundational discipline within visual arts pedagogy, uniting tactile carving and chemical etching with precise mechanical transfer. In Illinois licensure assessment and high school studio classrooms, educators must demonstrate a thorough understanding of the distinct physical mechanics separating the two major traditional incised-matrix disciplines: relief printmaking and intaglio printmaking.

1. Relief Printmaking: Mechanics, Matrices, and Carving Dynamics

In relief printmaking, the pictorial image is printed from the original, uncarved surface of the matrix. The artist uses cutting tools to excavate non-image negative spaces below the planar surface. When a roller charged with ink passes across the block, ink adheres exclusively to the raised positive areas while missing the carved recesses. When pressed against paper, the resulting impression is a lateral mirror-image reversal of the block.

Relief Inking Profile:
[Ink Layer] =======   =======   =======
[Matrix]    |     |___|     |___|     |
            ^ Raised image areas receive ink;
              recessed trenches remain bare.

Woodcut (Xylography)

Woodcut is the oldest printmaking methodology, dating to 8th-century China and flourishing in Renaissance Europe and Edo-period Japan:

• Plank (Side) Grain Matrix: The matrix is cut from lumber milled parallel to the trunk of the tree (long grain). Commonly utilized woods include cherry, pear, basswood, and white pine. Because the wood fibers run horizontally along the surface, cutting tools encounter directional resistance when traveling across the grain. Perpendicular cuts risk tearing or splintering the fibers unless severed with a sharp knife.
• Expressive Qualities: Woodcuts yield bold graphic contours, rugged angular marks, and organic wood-grain textures. In the German Expressionist revival led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Käthe Kollwitz, artists exploited the crude resistance of the grain to convey raw emotional angst.
• Japanese Ukiyo-e Tradition: Edo-period printmakers (such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige) developed sophisticated polychrome printing (nishiki-e) using water-based pigment pastes, rice paste binder (nori), and precise L-shaped and flat registration marks (kento) carved directly into the corner and edge of each multi-block matrix.

Wood Engraving

Pioneered in late 18th-century Britain by Thomas Bewick, wood engraving transformed commercial illustration prior to the advent of photolithography:

• End-Grain Matrix: Rather than cutting across plank lumber, the artist carves into blocks sawn perpendicularly across the trunk of slow-growing, extremely dense hardwoods—most notably English boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), lemonwood, or hard maple. The end-grain surface resembles the cross-section of a tree trunk, presenting an omnidirectional, tightly packed cellular field without directional grain resistance.
• Tools and Visual Fidelity: The artist works with intaglio-style burins and gravers rather than curved gouges. Because the matrix does not splinter in any direction, the engraver can incise hair-thin, curvilinear white lines and microscopic cross-hatching. Wood engraving operates primarily as a "white-line" technique, allowing astonishing photographic tonal ranges and micro-textures.

Linocut

Developed in the early 20th century as a modern adaptation of relief printing, linocut utilizes battleship linoleum—a resilient composite of oxidized linseed oil, rosin, cork dust, and wood flour pressed onto a burlap or jute backing:

• Material Handling: Linoleum possesses zero grain direction, allowing gouges to glide effortlessly in any curve or angle. Unmounted linoleum is flexible and economical, whereas mounted linoleum can be built up to the height required by a particular press; total type height, not the backing board alone, determines letterpress compatibility. In cold studio environments, warming the block on a radiator or with an electric hairdryer softens the binder, preventing brittle gouge skips and hand slips.
• The Reduction Method ("Suicide Print"): Popularized by Pablo Picasso in Vallauris, the reduction linocut allows multi-color registration using a single matrix. The artist carves the areas to remain white (paper tone), prints the lightest ink color across the entire edition, carves away areas intended to stay that first color, prints the second color, and repeats the cycle through progressively darker hues. Because the matrix is destroyed step by step during the run, the edition size is fixed permanently and cannot be reprinted.

Carving Tools and Studio Ergonomics

Relief carving requires disciplined hand positioning to prevent severe puncture wounds:

• Tool Geometry:
  • V-Gouges (Parting Tools): Feature a sharp 60° to 90° angular apex. Used to delineate razor-sharp contour outlines, fine hatch marks, and initial stop-cuts.
  • U-Gouges (Veiners and Gouges): Range from narrow 1mm veiners to broad, sweeping U-shapes. Used to clear medium areas of negative space and create rhythmic gouge textures.
  • Flat Chisels and Skew Knives: Used to pare down broad negative plateaus and slice fiber walls vertically.
• Ergonomic Safety Rule: The non-dominant stabilizing hand must always remain positioned behind the cutting edge or anchored firmly to the side of the block on a non-slip bench hook. The carver must cut strictly away from their body at all times.

2. Relief Inking Dynamics and Printing Execution

The translation of a carved relief block to paper relies on precise ink viscosity, roller dynamics, and uniform burnishing pressure:

• Brayers and Inking Slabs: The artist rolls out oil-based or water-soluble relief ink on a polished glass or marble slab using a synthetic rubber (nitrile or EPDM) or gelatin brayer. The ink must be worked until it forms a microscopically thin, uniform velvet film across the roller, producing a distinctive soft, whispering "hissing" sound. If the ink sounds loud, wet, or squelching, the roller is overloaded, which will cause ink to bleed into fine carved trenches and flood negative spaces.
• Hand Burnishing with the Baren: For unmounted blocks and proofing, Japanese barens provide sensitive, variable manual pressure. A traditional baren consists of a coiled bamboo-fiber inner core backed by a rigid laminated paper disk and wrapped in a tough, ribbed bamboo sheath (takenokawa). The artist places dry or lightly dampened Japanese mulberry paper (such as Kozo, Kitakata, or Hosho) over the inked block and rubs the baren in vigorous, overlapping circular spirals, transferring ink without requiring an mechanical press.
• Mechanical Relief Presses: In academic printshops, relief blocks can be pulled on a hand-cranked proof press (such as a Vandercook cylinder press) or an iron hand press (such as an Albion or Washington platen press). When utilizing a heavy-duty rolling intaglio press for relief printing, the cylinders must be raised and fitted with rigid wooden relief shims to prevent excessive roller torque from crushing the linoleum or splintering wood blocks.

3. Intaglio Printmaking: Mechanics and Matrix Materials

Intaglio (derived from the Italian intagliare, meaning "to engrave" or "to carve into") operates in exact operational reverse of relief printmaking. The image resides entirely below the surface plane of the matrix. The artist cuts, scratches, or chemically bites a network of lines, pits, or textures into a polished plate. Ink is forced into these incisions, the top surface is wiped completely clean, and damp paper is forced under extreme mechanical pressure into the recessed grooves to pull out the trapped ink.

Intaglio Inking Profile:
[Clean Surface] |    |       |   |       |   |
[Matrix]        |____|       |___|       |___|
                ^ Ink resides inside grooves;
                  top plate surface is wiped clean.

Matrix Metals and Preparation

• Copper: The historical gold standard for intaglio. Copper is ductile, holds exceptionally fine cross-hatched lines under multiple press runs, and bites cleanly in chemical mordants without excessive crystalline pitting. Its durability permits large editions, particularly when electro-plated with iron ("steelfaced").
• Zinc: Softer and less expensive than copper, making it common in introductory educational settings. Zinc bites aggressively in dilute nitric acid, generating a coarser, more open crystalline etched line. However, zinc plates wear down rapidly under the friction of wiping and the heavy roller pressure of the press.
• Plexiglass (Acrylic): Transparent thermoplastic sheets frequently used for non-toxic studio drypoint. Allows students to place reference drawings directly beneath the matrix during scribing.
• Plate Beveling: Before inking or etching, all four plate edges must be filed to a smooth 45° bevel and polished with a scraper and burnisher. Unbeveled sharp metal edges will slice directly through expensive rag paper and slice or permanently gouge the woven wool felt blankets of the etching press under multi-ton pressure.

4. Direct (Non-Acid) Intaglio Methodologies

Direct intaglio processes rely entirely on manual muscular force without chemical acid baths:

Line Engraving

• The Burin (Graver): The primary tool of the classical line engraver (epitomized by Albrecht Dürer and Hendrick Goltzius). It consists of a tempered, hardened square or lozenge-shaped steel shaft with an angled face, mounted into a mushroom-shaped wooden handle designed to nest comfortably in the palm of the hand.
• Cutting Mechanics: Held at a shallow angle (~15° to 30°) relative to the plate surface, the burin is pushed forward by the palm while the fingers steer the tip. As the tool advances through the copper, it gouges out a crisp, clean V-shaped furrow, lifting a curling ribbon or sliver of metal ahead of the blade. The line swells and tapers cleanly based on tool depth, exhibiting immaculate, sharp contours devoid of ragged edges.

Drypoint

• The Scribing Needle: The artist scratches lines directly into a bare copper, zinc, or acrylic plate using a heavy, hardened steel needle, carbide scribe, or diamond-point stylus. The needle is held like a pen and dragged or drawn firmly across the surface.
• The Burr (Barbe): Unlike engraving, drypoint does not excise or remove a ribbon of metal. Instead, the stylus displaces the metal upward along the furrow, throwing up a ragged, sharp crest of displaced metal known as the burr on one or both sides of the incision.
• Visual and Editioning Behavior: When inked and wiped, ink catches both in the incised furrow and behind the ragged lip of the burr. When printed, this produces a lush, feathery, velvety, atmospheric line impossible to replicate with a clean burin or acid etch. However, the delicate burr is mechanically fragile; under the crushing pressure of the etching press rollers, the burr flattens rapidly. A drypoint edition rarely exceeds 15 to 30 pristine impressions before line clarity collapses, unless the copper plate undergoes industrial steelfacing.

Mezzotint ("Half-Tone")

Invented by Ludwig von Siegen in 1642, mezzotint is a tonal, subtractive intaglio method that moves systematically from absolute black to radiant light:

• Rocking the Plate: The artist rocks the entire polished copper plate using a curved, chisel-edged tool called a rocker, which features dozens of tiny sharp teeth along its convex blade. The artist rocks across the plate in dozens of crisscrossing angular passes until the entire surface is uniformly pitted with millions of microscopic indentations and burrs. If inked at this stage, the plate would print an absolute, velvety, light-absorbing pitch black.
• Scraping and Burnishing Highlights: The artist then works subtractively. To create mid-tones, highlights, and white values, the artist uses a three-sided steel scraper to slice away the burrs and a smooth, hard steel burnisher to rub and polish the rough metal back to a glass-smooth mirror finish. Smooth areas hold no ink, printing pure white paper, while partially burnished zones retain varying amounts of ink to yield subtle, photographic tonal gradations.

5. Indirect (Chemical) Intaglio: Etching and Aquatint

Indirect intaglio relies on chemical mordants to bite into exposed metal areas protected by acid-resistant barriers:

Line Etching

• Resist Grounds: The degreased metal plate is heated on a hotplate and coated with an acid-resistant hard ground composed of asphaltum, beeswax, and rosin, applied smoothly with a leather brayer or roller. The ground is often smoked with a cluster of beeswax tapers to turn it glossy black, maximizing visual contrast against the bright metal.
• Drawing with the Needle: The artist draws on the grounded plate using an etching needle. The needle requires minimal pressure; its purpose is merely to scratch through the thin wax ground to bare the metal, not to gouge the plate itself.
• Soft Ground Etching: Formulated by adding tallow or petroleum jelly to hard ground, soft ground remains permanently sticky and pliable at room temperature. The artist can place textured fabrics (lace, netting, leaves) or textured paper over the plate and run it lightly through a press, lifting the ground where pressed; or draw over paper with a pencil, lifting ground in direct proportion to pencil pressure to mimic soft graphite or chalk marks.

Aquatint (Tonal Etching)

Developed in the 18th century and advanced by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince and mastered by Francisco Goya in Los Caprichos, aquatint produces luminous, wash-like tonal areas:

• Rosin Dust Application: The bare metal plate is placed in an enclosed aquatint dust box, where fine pulverized rosin (colophony) dust is agitated into a cloud using a fan, crank, or bellows. The dust settles uniformly across the plate. The plate is carefully removed and heated on a hotplate until the white rosin particles melt, turn transparent, and fuse as millions of tiny, discrete droplet beads adhering to the metal.
• Bite Mechanics: When submerged in acid, the mordant bites around each tiny rosin droplet into an intricate, micro-pitted honeycomb pattern. These microscopic pits trap ink, printing as continuous tonal fields. The depth of bite (immersion time) dictates value: brief bites yield pale grays, while long bites create deep blacks.
• Spit Bite Etching: Rather than submerging the whole plate, the artist paints mordant directly onto the rosin-coated plate using brushes loaded with acid mixed with water, saliva, or gum arabic. Saliva contains proteins that lower surface tension, acting as a surfactant that prevents the acid from beading up into droplets, enabling fluid, painterly watercolor washes.
• Stop-Out Varnish: Rapid-drying liquid asphaltum or shellac applied with a brush to seal specific areas during staged bites, locking in progressively darker tones across successive acid baths.

6. Intaglio Inking, Paper Mechanics, and Press Operation

Transforming an incised intaglio plate into a finished fine art print requires specialized paper conditioning and physical press handling:

Inking and Tarlatan Wiping Mechanics

• Inking the Plate: High-viscosity, oil-based intaglio ink (formulated with burnt plate oil and dense carbon black or mineral pigments) is spread across the warmed plate using a stiff cardboard card, plastic squeegee, or leather dauber, forcing ink firmly into all etched grooves and burrs.
• Tarlatan Wiping: The printer wipes away excess surface ink using tarlatan—a stiff, open-weave starched cotton crinoline cheesecloth. The tarlatan is folded into a soft, flat, round pad with no sharp wrinkles or edges. The printer wipes in light, sweeping circular motions across the surface. The open mesh picks up ink from the top plane without dislodging ink from recessed lines.
• Hand Polishing (Palm Wipe): To achieve pristine, sparkling white highlights in non-image areas, the printer dusts their dry palm with a touch of whiting (calcium carbonate powder) and executes sweeping, feather-light passes across the plate surface, clearing residual ink films without disturbing the lines.

Paper Preparation: Soaking and Blotting

Unlike relief printing which accommodates dry, lightweight papers, intaglio printing demands heavy, 100% cotton rag paper (such as BFK Rives, Arches, Somerset, or Hahnemühle):

• Soaking: The paper must be completely submerged in a clean water bath for 15 minutes to several hours depending on paper weight and sizing. Water hydrates and relaxes the tightly bound cellulose fibers, softening the internal starch sizing.
• Blotting: The paper is removed from the bath, allowed to drip, and placed between sheets of lint-free blotter paper, rolled with a rolling pin or pressed flat. The finished sheet must be uniformly damp, pliable, and matte, with zero pooling surface water. If paper is too wet, water pools in the plate grooves, repelling oil-based ink; if too dry, brittle fibers will not mold into deep incisions.

The Etching Press and Blanket Geometry

An intaglio press consists of a heavy steel bed sliding horizontally between two solid steel cylinders, driven by a star wheel or gear reduction crank. The massive compression (exceeding several thousand pounds per square inch along the narrow roller line) forces the damp, elastic paper deep into the micro-grooves to pull out the ink.

Etching Press Sandwich Order (Top to Bottom):
[Upper Steel Roller]  =============================
[Pusher Blanket]      Heavy woven wool (cushion drive)
[Cushion Blanket]     Thick, soft pressed wool felt
[Sizing Catcher]      Thin, dense woven wool felt
[Damp Rag Paper]      Softened 100% cotton fibers
[Inked Metal Plate]   Beveled edges facing upward
[Press Bed]           Heavy solid steel traveling bed
[Lower Steel Roller]  =============================

• Blanket Assembly: Woven wool felts distribute load evenly and push paper into grooves:
  • Sizing Catcher: The thinnest, densest wool felt placed immediately over the damp paper to absorb moisture and expelled sizing without distorting.
  • Cushion (Forming Felt): A thick, soft wool felt that provides maximum compressibility and depth.
  • Pusher: A durable, tightly woven wool blanket on top that protects the cushion felt from roller shear and drives the bed smoothly.
• The Plate Mark: The immense pressure embosses the beveled perimeter of the plate deeply into the damp cotton rag paper, creating the permanent, raised structural plate mark that serves as an authentic physical signature of the intaglio process.

7. Comparative Technical Overview: Relief vs. Intaglio Processes

The following table outlines the matrices, tools, inking dynamics, and visual signatures across all relief and intaglio media: