Limited Editions: A limit to the print run is crucial, as many traditional printmaking techniques can only produce a limited
number of best quality impressions. This can be as few as ten or twenty for a technique like drypoint, but more commonly would be
in the low hundreds - print runs of over a thousand are regarded as dubious by the serious art market for original prints, even though
with many techniques there is no loss of quality.
Edition sizes higher than about 500 are likely to be print reproductions of
paintings, of much less value. As in other fields, the use of the concept has become largely driven by marketing imperatives, and
has been misused in parts of the market. In particular, lithographic, photogravure, rotogravure, and giclee reproductions of prints,
derived from photographs of an original print, which are most unlikely to have any investment value, are often issued in limited editions
implying that they will have such value. These need to be distinguished from the original artist's print, carefully produced directly
from his work and printed under the artist's supervision.
A limited edition is normally hand signed and numbered by the artist,
typically in pencil, in the form (eg): 14/100. The first number is the number of the print itself. The second number is the number
of overall prints the artist will print of that image. The lower the second number is, the more valuable and collectible the limited
editions are likely to be, within whatever their price range is. A small number of "artists' proofs" may also be produced as well,
signed and with "AP", "proof" etc.
Giclee: The process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing.
The word "giclée" is derived from the French. It was coined in 1991 by Jack Duganne,a printmaker working in the field, to represent
any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art. The intent of that name was to distinguish commonly known industrial "Iris proofs"
from the type of fine art prints artists were producing on those same types of printers. The name was originally applied to fine art
prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the early 1990s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print
and is often found in galleries.
Lithography: A technique invented in 1798 and based on the chemical repulsion of oil and
water. A porous surface, normally limestone, is used; the image is drawn on the limestone with a greasy medium. Acid is applied, transferring
the grease to the limestone, leaving the image 'burned' into the surface. Gum arabic, a water-soluble substance, is then applied,
sealing the surface of the stone not covered with the drawing medium. The stone is wetted, with water staying only on the surface
not covered in grease-based residue of the drawing; the stone is then 'rolled up', meaning oil ink is applied with a roller covering
the entire surface; since water repels the oil in the ink, the ink adheres only to the greasy parts, perfectly inking the image. A
sheet of dry paper is placed on the surface, and the image is transferred to the paper by the pressure of the printing press. Lithography
is known for its ability to capture fine gradations in shading and very small detail. A variant is photolithography, in which the
image is captured by photographic processes on metal plates; printing is carried out in the same way.
Screen-Print (also known as "screen printing", "silk-screening", or "serigraphy"): creates prints exhibiting a stenciled, complex deposit of ink through the utilization of a fabric stencil technique. The ink is simply pushed through the stencil against the surface of the paper. The general technique is accepted as involving one of many various types of 'mesh' stretched across a rectangular 'frame'- this looks much like a stretched canvas. The mesh can be made of many different types of material, from actual silk, to nylon monofilament and multifilament polyester, to even stainless steel. The essential tools required are a squeegee, a mesh, a frame, a stencil, and a substrate- screen-printing is essentially stencil printing. Stencil printing is arguably the oldest and simplest form of graphic arts. Screen-printing lends itself well to printing on a variety of materials, from canvas to rubber to glass and metal.