What’s a lithograph?

[treefingers]

how does this differ from standard posters? I’m planning to buy a lithograph of a band (album cover) online.

treefingers

[mac_bolan00]

lithographic printing is a technique that operates on the principle of emiscibility of oil in water (meaning they don't mix). it's labor-intensive and, when done by a skilled artist, makes a superior print than most relief or offset prints. like a relief print, you can make several copies but unlike the former, you can actually modify the image as you go on printing. it was the color laser printer of the earlier centuries.

take a smooth slab of limestone or marble. spray a little dilute nitric acid on the surface to etch tiny holes on the marble and make it hold a thin film of water better. rinse and dry. next draw your design using an oily medium (a wax crayon is usually used). perfect the image using various tools: pins to scratch fine lines, blades to scrape at some parts, a small stone to grind and sread out the crayon immage, making it "blurry", etc.

next, moisten the entire slab with water from a sprayer. and then...

using a big roller, apply oil-based ink on the entire slab. applying this ink takes skill. the crayon image will take in ink but the wet background will resist application of the ink.

now lay your printing paper over the whole thing and press it down with a bruch or light squigee. the image of the crayon painting will be printed on the paper because that's the only part that adsorbed the oily ink.

now check the first print for flaws or imperfections. you can "improve" the image with the same crayon and using the tools i mentioned.

repeat the sequence. spray the whole thing with water, roll on the ink, spread the paper over it and you get more prints.

when the background begins to darken, it means the marble can no longer hold water and oily ink is beginning to stick to it. you have to stop and re-grind the marble surface.

draw a new crayon image and print again.

got that from the britannica years ago when i was researching on printing methods.

[treefingers]

hey, thanks. so basically it's of better quality than the usual posters we see around?

[mac_bolan00]

again, it depends on the skill of the artist. the details are unsually much finer and lifelike that in other prints.

we have a replica of the "mother and child" lithograph by carlos "botong" francisco. it's as fine as any oil painting.

[onecarlos]

lithographic printing is a technique that operates on the principle of emiscibility of oil in water (meaning they don't mix). it's labor-intensive and, when done by a skilled artist, makes a superior print than most relief or offset prints. like a relief print, you can make several copies but unlike the former, you can actually modify the image as you go on printing. it was the color laser printer of the earlier centuries.

take a smooth slab of limestone or marble. spray a little dilute nitric acid on the surface to etch tiny holes on the marble and make it hold a thin film of water better. rinse and dry. next draw your design using an oily medium (a wax crayon is usually used). perfect the image using various tools: pins to scratch fine lines, blades to scrape at some parts, a small stone to grind and sread out the crayon immage, making it "blurry", etc.

next, moisten the entire slab with water from a sprayer. and then...

using a big roller, apply oil-based ink on the entire slab. applying this ink takes skill. the crayon image will take in ink but the wet background will resist application of the ink.

now lay your printing paper over the whole thing and press it down with a bruch or light squigee. the image of the crayon painting will be printed on the paper because that's the only part that adsorbed the oily ink.

now check the first print for flaws or imperfections. you can "improve" the image with the same crayon and using the tools i mentioned.

repeat the sequence. spray the whole thing with water, roll on the ink, spread the paper over it and you get more prints.

when the background begins to darken, it means the marble can no longer hold water and oily ink is beginning to stick to it. you have to stop and re-grind the marble surface.

draw a new crayon image and print again.

got that from the britannica years ago when i was researching on printing methods.

I am not into printing yet I find this informative. I followed each step mentioned in the text. I created a mental picture of the medium used, the printing materials, and the actual process of lithograph printing. I do not get this part though:

“Next, moisten the entire slab with water from a sprayer. and then...
using a big roller, APPLY oil-based ink on the ENTIRE SLAB. applying this ink takes skill. the crayon image will take in ink but the wet background will resist application of the ink. now lay your printing paper over the whole thing and press it down with a bruch or light squigee. the image of the crayon painting will be printed on the paper because that's the only part that adsorbed the oily ink.

I can imagine droplets of oil-based ink (a poster paint in linseed oil, for instance) still on the non-crayoned part of the slab. Do you manually dry this part of the slab first, before you lay your printing paper over the whole thing and press it down with a brush or squeegee? Coz if you skip the drying part, I can imagine the oil-based ink smudged on the printing paper making it hard to tell the lean form of the crayon-sketched design on the slab.

[mac_bolan00]

nope. i had dificulty imagining it myself. but if the marble is etched with a little acid at the start, water will cling to it and the oil will stick only to the crayoned part. i forgot to add, you should also lightly spray the surface of the paper before pressing it against the inked marble. maybe that will help the paper resist oil droplets clinging to the background part of the marble. the britannica showed several old lithos by masters and boy, it's hard to believe the used the process i described.

[treefingers]

can one mass produce lithogrpahs?say to sell online