Lithographic Printing

   In Greek, the term Lithography literally means “writing on stone”.   Litho printing was discovered in 1798 by Alois Senefelder and has grown into a popular printing process for artists and many commercial enterprises. 

There are several steps involved in Senefelder’s original Litho printing process. These have been modified, adapted and innovated to become the offset lithographic printing process that is so popular today. Some artists feel that Senefelder’s method allows for a very highly means of creative expression. The lithographic process of printing multiple copies, adds many individual characteristic s to each print in the edition, which can never be replicated.

The first step in creating a lithograph is graining.  A new litho stone is generally about 10 cm thick. As only 1 mm of the surface needs to be removed for each new drawing, if stored with care, a litho stone can last for a several years. Once the stone has been polished it's ready for the image. I draw on the stone using special litho pencils or litho ink, trying not to touch the surface of the stone, as the oil from the hands will leave marks on the print. If the image is to be multi colored then the process becomes ever more complicated.  Each color will require separate drawing on the stone.

After I draw my design (the artwork will have to be drawn in reverse), the stone then goes thru a chemical etching process, which is the trickiest part of creating a litho. It is also the basic fundamental on which litho printing works: oil and water do not mix. I use gum Arabic and Nitric acid to etch the stone. As the etching takes some time, the stone will be ready for printing on the following day.
 
The stone is inked with the ink color that the image is to be printed in. Then a sheet of paper is laid face down on the stone. A tympan or sheet of plexiglass is placed on the paper. The press bed is then moved horizontally to a  point where the scraper bar is lowered onto the tympan. As the scraper bar moves over the press bed, the image is printed onto the paper. The print paper is then carefully removed from the stone. 

The stone is immediately cleaned with a wet sponge, and after drying, the inking process is repeated for another print. To print 5 copies of the same drawing you would need at least 1-2 hours for each color assuming you don’t have any problems during the entire process. 

Nobody ever said litho printing was a quick  process!

Tatyana

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