The Art and Craft of Lithographic Printmaking
The decorative papers above the harpsichord soundboard would originally have been printed from woodblocks cut by master artisans. When they became unavailable Craig sought our advice and we suggested the two hundred year old invention of lithography. So one fine day we three - Mother, Father and Son, set out to duplicate the ancient woodcut designs on Bavarian limestone, a substance at least 12,000 years old, and then hand print the transposed designs to Arches papers (Arches set up shop in France in 1492 and has been supplying artists and printmakers with fine papers ever since) using a manual flat-bed press. The ice age, at least one of them, supplied the limestone which was quarried near the town of Solnhofen in Bavaria.
The story of Aloys Senefelder and his invention of Chemical Printing in 1790 using this very limestone as a matrix for his designs, is well documented. His invention literally changed the course of printing history. The process led directly to the development of modern offset printing and indirectly to the colour television tube and digital printing. From Stone to Electronics in a little over 200 years is quite a stretch for any invention.
For the purposes of duplicating the papers to be used on Craig's superb instruments we chose to return to the source - limestone.
Procedure:
(1) - The original papers were taped flat and clear mylar film was placed over each design.
(2) - Using a fine point felt pen - each design was carefully traced to the mylar.
(3) - Freshly grained limestone blocks were set up for each artist.
(4) - The mylar tracings were turned over and taped down over a red oxide tracing paper on each stone block.
(5) - Using a finely pointed 'f' pencil each design (in reverse) was traced to individual stones.
(6) - When completed all tracing material was striped from the stones.
(7) - Using a wood bridge to guard against smudging each design was now drawn directly on the stones using sharpened #5 grease pencils and fine steel pen nibs dipped in liquid tusche. In the case of a solid design - the open printing areas were surrounded with water-soluble Gum Arabic. The open negative images thus obtained were rubbed up in asphaltum when completed - this immediately gave us an ink-attractive positive design. The images made in this manner were washed with sponges and clean water and immediately rolled up in press black while damp. Ink adheres to the greasy asphaltum only,leaving the open stone areas (formerly protected by the gum arabic) now able to receive sponged water and resist the ink. The entire process to this point took several days to complete - three stones were used.
Processing The Drawings
(1) - The grease drawings as well as the inked solids were dusted with powdered Rosin over the entire stone surfaces, a minute amount adheres to the greasy drawings thus protecting them from the acid's bite - the excess was brushed off. French talc was now dusted over all drawings and the excess brushed off.
(2) - Two etches were applied for each image consisting of a formula of gum arabic and nitric acid, this is poured over the entire stone surface avoiding, where possible, the areas of drawing. The liquid is then quickly brushed over the entire stone and left standing for several minutes. It is then gently buffed in with a cheese-cloth until dry. This procedure was used twice on all three stones. A washout of the greasy images with a solvent is involved between the two etches followed by a rollup in press black and immediate proofing if thought necessary. A possible final etch is applied if alterations and/or additions are added. The etched and protected designs, now in printers ink, are ready for printing.
Printing the Designs
(1) - The first stone is set up on the press bed, positioned centrally and packed to insure the stones top surface is level with the press bed. Coloured ink is mixed, proofing paper as well as edition paper is laid out.
(2) - The etched designs are now completely washed out with several applications of solvent and the image rubbed up in a triple ink consisting of the colour to be used in printing plus a bit of solvent, this is applied to the image areas and rubbed dry and smooth with a soft cloth; the non-image areas are still protected by the dried etch film.
(3) - At this point, prior to actually printing an image, the entire stone surface is washed clean of dried etch and residue triple ink with clean water. The image and stone must be kept damp from this point on by an alert press assistant while the printer inks the image several times with a large diameter neoprene roller. The assistant places paper over the inked image to a head and tail mark, the printer advances the press bed, applies the pressure bar to the lead edge of the print paper and then runs the stone through, thereby transferring the ink from image to paper. The pressure is released and the press bed reversed. The stone and image are immediately sponged with water by the assistant before drying can occur and the image inked in the same manner for the next press pass.
(4) - This procedure continued until the allotted edition was complete. The other stones each carrying their own unique design entertained us in the same manner over the next few days - then each was returned to its shelf with a thin coating of asphaltum rubbed gently into the slightly raised images thus retaining indefinitely their grease attracting potential until again needed for printing. It must be pointed out that a stone matrix has an advantage over a woodblock matrix in not drying, splitting, or shrinking with age as many of the very old wood blocks must certainly have done.
The printing production team was:
Craig Tomlinson: Layout and Design Transfer
Olga Kornavitch-Tomlinson: Design Transfer Processing and Press Assistant
Roy Tomlinson: Printer and Project Director
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