Producing Print Based MediaLO1

Your name

To do

• Explain method in own words• When it was invented/by who (if information is available)• How the method works/what do you need to do to use

this method• What does the method look like when used (include

images)• What are the costs involved with using this method• How quickly the process can be done

• Provide images to illustrate discussion• Reference at least one example with a image.

Hand Printing Methods

EtchingEtching was invented in the early 15th century by a man named Daniel Hopfer, who was from Augsburg in Germany. He was a craftsman and used etching to decorate armor, and also applied the method to print-making. For the basic method of etching, a plate which is made of metal (commonly copper, steel, or zinc) is covered with a waxy substance which is resistant to acid. Afterwards, the waxy substance is scratched off with a pointed etching needle in the way you want the design to look in the finished piece. By doing this, you are exposing the bare metal underneath. When the design is finished, the plate is either dipped into a bath of acid or alternatively has acid washed over it. The acid eats away at the metal in the areas where it is exposed, leaving behind lines that have sunk into the metal plate. The remaining wax is cleaned off of the plate, and the plate is covered in ink. The ink sinks into the etched lines, so when the ink is wiped away, it remains inside the lines and the design can be seen. The metal plate is then put through a high pressure printing press along with a sheet of moistened paper (wetting the paper softens it). The paper then picks up the ink from the etched lines and transfers the design, which makes a print. Because the plate is metal, it can be used hundreds of times to create the same print. Changes to the plate can also added by repeating the process of covering the plate with wax and dipping it in acid.

EtchingGlass Etching

Glass etching can add elegance and sophistication to ordinary, plain household items. Glass etching is effective on vases, mirrors, picture frames, and windows. The most popular designs for glass etching are flowers, leaves, monograms, and geometric shapes. To begin a glass etching, you will need some basic supplies and an area to work that is well-ventilated. Unless you have a specific object that you want to work on, you can purchase glassware at discount stores, garage sales, and thrift shops. You can purchase etching cream at any major craft store. It contains an acid which removes a fine layer from the glass, and that makes the glass look frosty. The adhesive plastic stencils can also be found in craft stores, and they make it easier to put a design onto a curved piece of glass.

LinocutThe linocut printing technique was first used for wallpaper printing by the artists of Die Brucke, in Germany from 1905-13. Linocut is a printing method which is a variant form of woodcut, where a sheet of linoleum is used as the relief surface. The linoleum is sometimes mounted on a wooden block. Using a sharp knife or gouge, you would cut a design in the surface of the linoleum, leaving the raised areas showing a mirrored image of the parts which would be visible when printed. The sheet is then inked with a rolled and pressed onto the fabric/paper. You can do this printing by hand, or you can choose to have it done with a press. Linoleum doesn’t have a grain, meaning you don’t have to cut in one direction like you would have to with wood. When heated it is also much easier to cut than wood, although it isn’t as durable. I have found that you are able to buy Linocut starter kits on websites like Etsy and Ebay for around £30 - £40. The starter kit includes a linocutter, lino tool, roller, brayer, ink, relief printing ink, linoleum and lino. The process of linocutting can vary in time span depending on how long it takes the person to carve out the design. The more intricate the design, the longer it will take to add more detail, unlike if you was doing a more simple design.

LinocutLinocut Cards

Linocut printing is a great use for making greetings cards because you can print as many cards as you need, and you are also able to customize them however you want, adding various colours and inventing your own designs. You will be able to re-use them in the future as well.

Comparison

The similarities between etching and linocut are that both of the methods involve having to use a sharp tool to scratch away parts of the substance so you can create your own design. You would both need some sort of ink to print the design you have made, although linocut is much cheaper to make yourself whereas making an etching would be extremely expensive because of the price of the large pressing machines you would need, and depending on how many different designs you wanted to print you would have to pay for the metal as well. The metal plates used in etching would be more durable than the linoleum so you would be able to get more use out of it and also more copies of the print. Overall, it is much easier to make your own prints using the linocut method because the supplies are cheaper and easier to get hold of, and personally I prefer this method because I think it looks much more artistic and stylised.

Mechanical Methods

LetterpressLetterpress printing is a type of relief printing which uses a printing press. In the mid-15th century letterpress printing was the main form of printing, and it was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. Letterpress remained a popular choice for the printing of books until the second half to the 20th century. The process of printing includes several stages: composition, imposition, and printing. The first stage is where moveable pieces of type are changed and placed to form the desired text. After the type is composed and has been proof-read, the imposition process begins. During this time, the assembled type is converted into a “form” so that it is ready to use on the press. The stoneman, who is the person that does imposition, works on a large and flat imposition stone. The time it took and how the press worked all depended on the model of the press, as this varied by time period. Hand presses would usually require two people to operate them, with one person inking the type and the other working the press. The later model of press needed only one person because the inking and pressing and done automatically, so the operator would only have the job of feeding and removing the paper. The printed sheets are then taken away to dry. Depending on the variety of prints being produced, they will also be taken for finishing. For example, newspapers are taken to a folding machine and sheets for books are sent for bookbinding.

LetterpressWedding Invitations

Letterpress printing is a popular choice when making wedding invitations and menus. This is probably because the press gives a classic and sophisticated look because of the indent it leaves. People who work with letter presses say that printing this way gives a cleaner, richer and more elegant appearance, which is why it is ideal for such things as formal invitations. With this form of printing, you are also able to have it customised the way you would like it.

RotogravureRotogravure involves engraving the image onto an image carrier, which in this case is a cylinder because like most offset printing, it uses a rotary printing press. The beginning of rotogravure came along in the last quarter of the 19th century, as image photo transfer onto carbon tissue was discovered. The rotogravure process is used today for the commercial printing of magazines, postcards, and cardboard product packaging. The ink is directly applied to the gravure cylinder, and then it is transferred to the paper. While the press is moving, the cylinder is covered in ink from the ink tray at the bottom, which fills the recessed cells. As the cylinder rotates it draws the ink out of the fountain so it stays on the cylinder. The doctor blade scrapes the cylinder before it meets the paper which removes the excess ink and leaves the right amount of ink in the cells. Then the paper gets sandwiched between the impression roller and the cylinder with the ink on it. After the ink is applied to the paper, the print goes through a dryer before it can accept another coat of ink from the next colour unit. The advantages of a rotogravure printing is that it can last through a high volume print without the image being of lesser quality. The price for running these long prints is much more affordable and good value than if you wanted to make just a few prints.

RotogravureFood packaging, wall paper, wrapping paper, panelling, and greetings cards.

Rotogravure printing is perfect for the printing of these products because rotogravure is typically used for long run, high quality printing, and this produces a sharp, fine image. Gravure cylinders last a long time before degrading so you can make hundreds upon thousands of prints before worrying about having to invest in a new gravure printer. However, the price of a gravure press is around £1 million.

Comparison

Both of these methods use a press to transfer the type onto the paper, although the rotogravure is quicker and better for larger prints which is ideal for its purpose of food packaging, which would need thousands upon thousands of copies. The letterpress is better used for products that are in lesser and fewer demand, like invitations and greetings cards, because the process takes longer with the arranging of the type and having to feed and remove the paper. So, depending on what type of product you are wanting, and if you want a stylish and personalised finish then that would decide on which method you would pick. However, as I mentioned before using a letterpress is time consuming and the range of fonts are limited so it may not be the best choice for printing packaging.

Digital Methods

PhotocopyingThe inventor of photocopying was an arthritic called Chester Carlson, who started doing experiments with photoconductivity, as he found his job of copying large numbers of important papers painful and tedious.How a photocopier works:1. The cylindrical drum is electrostatically charged by a high

voltage wire, which is called a corona wire or a charge roller. The cylindrical drum is coated with a photoconductive material, which means that when it is exposed to light it will become conductive.

2. A bright lamp illuminates the document that is to be copied, while the white areas on the document reflect the light onto the surface of the cylindrical drum. The areas of the drum that are exposed to the reflected light become conductive and therefore discharges to the ground. The dark areas of the drum will remain negatively charged. This results in a latent electrical image being left on the surface of the drum.

3. The toner is applied to the drum so that the image can be developed. The toner is attracted and sticks to the areas that are negatively charged, because it is positively charged.

4. The image made by the toner is transferred from the drum onto a piece of paper which has a higher negative charge than the drum.

5. Finally, heat and pressure rollers help melt and bond the toner to the paper.

Photocopying is used extensively in business, education and government, because it is quick and cheap process.

PhotocopyingSchool Worksheets

Teachers use photocopiers to make multiple worksheets for their pupils because it is cheap and easy to do. Choosing to photocopy worksheets is suitable for the amount needed because you can have as many duplicate prints as you want, and there is no need for worrying about paying attention to detail or missing bits out because the photocopier will do it for you.

Laser PrintingIn 1969, a worker at the American Xerox Corporation named Gary Starkweather had the idea of having a laser draw the image directly onto the copier drum. The year after he worked with Butler Lampson and Ronald Rider and they added a control system and character generator, which resulted in a printer that was called EARS (Ethernet, Alto Research character generator, Scanned laser output terminal). This printer was later named the Xerox 9700 laser printer. The process is done by a laser beam, which is usually from an aluminium gallium arsenide semiconducter laser, and the image is projected onto an electrically charged rotating drum that is coated with selenium. Photoconductivity means that the charge is able to leak away from the areas that are exposed to light. Then toner particles are electrostatically picked up by the charged area’s on the drums which have not been exposed to the laser beam. The drum prints the image onto the paper via direct contact as well as heat, and this fuses the ink to the paper.

Laser PrintingLarge Companies

The price of laser printers has fallen over the years, with the HP LaserJet selling for $3500 in 1984 and low-end laser printers nowadays sometimes selling for less than $75. The fastest models of laser printers can print over 200 monochrome pages per minute, and the fastest colour laser printers can print over 100 pages per minute. This fact makes it very beneficial and useful to big companies who will want to print out lots of bills or send letters and information to the public.

ComparisonThe comparison between photocopying and laser printing is that they are both cheaper and easier ways to produce lots of documents in short amounts of time. The only difference between these two methods is that the laser printer doesn’t use ink, which ultimately lowers the price to run them. Laser printing gives you a clean and crisp image. As for any ink needed for photocopying, that can be expensive and if you are printing in bulk then the cartridge will need to be replaced often. The toner for a laser printer is also quite pricey, but needs to be replaced less often than with the ink cartridges.

Print Methods Situations

To Do

• For each of the following scenarios, you need to decide on the best printing method to use.

• You need to explain your choice of method considering technical and aesthetic qualities, cost, speed and the skills and knowledge required.

100 high quality wedding invitations.

• Your client wants very high quality wedding invitation and is prepared for them to cost a lot of money and take time to produce. The invitations will be on high quality paper. The invitations will only have text on them.

Decision and justification

I think the best choice for this situation would be to have the invitations printed by a printing press. I say this because high quality paper will be used, and the fact that there will be no images and only text is also beneficial because the printing press specialises in printing specifically text. The printing press will give an elegant or modern look to the invitations, depending on the clients preferences. The client is also prepared to spend quite a bit of money, and will allow lots of time for the invitations to be made, so the high quality and professionalism of the finished product will be to their standard. There are plenty of websites that can provide many styles of personalised invitations which are produced using a printing press.

50 special edition greetings cards.

• Your client, a talented local artist, wants to produce small print runs of greetings cards. They do not want to use electronic printing methods. They need a cheap and simple method of printing so they can produce small runs of different designs but it needs to look arty and handmade when it’s finished.

Decision and justification

I think that the best choice for this situation would be linocut. I think this because the artist will be able to create his/her own designs and re-use them to make sets of cards. Also, linocut printing doesn’t require any electrical equipment, only ink and a set of knife-like tools that help to cut out the design. This process is also cheap because you can get starter kits for about £30 on Ebay or Esty. Linocut looks arty because you can create your own design, and mix up the ink you use, so the designs do not have to be all one colour.

3000 flyers for coffee shop.

• You client has a one week only special coming up and wants 3000 basic, single colour flyers to promote it. As the flyers will be given out in the street they only need to be cheap, in fact, the cheaper the better. They also need to be produced quickly.

Decision and justification

I think that the best choice for this situation would be to photocopy the flyers because it is cheap and easy and will be fast enough to produce that many products in bulk. Because the flyers will only be in one colour, this is also good for photocopying because they will not need to pay more for colour cartridges. This would be a better option than laser printing because it is more expensive, and the flyers don’t necessarily need to be of the best quality so a photocopier would do the job just fine.

100 copies of the village news letter.

• The parish council want to produce a monthly news letter for the village. It will be a single side of A4. It will mostly contain text but might occasionally have a black and white picture. It will be given away for free so should be cheap. The council would be interested in printing it themselves to save money.

Decision and justification

I think the best choice for this situation would be laser printing, because the council will be paying for it themselves and would not want it to be too expensive, and the cost for black and white laser printing is cheaper than colour so that would also be an advantage. Having a laser printer and using it every month for 100 copies will also be of good value because it will be unlikely you will need to change the toner, as if you had a photocopier you would have to keep replacing the ink cartridges, which are expensive in themselves.

10,000 copies of a fashion magazine

• WM Fashion want to produce a new catalogue to send out to its current customers as well as its existing ones. It needs to be high quality colour printing but it needs to have a low per copy cost.

Decision and justification

I think that the best choice for this situation would be rotogravure. I think this because the price per copy would be lower since thousands of copies would be issued, although the cost for the actual cylinder and the machinery would be a bit more pricey. As well as this, rotogravure printing always produces high quality prints and it would be years before the cylinder begins to degrade. This will allow professional and clean copies, with the additional colour not increasing the price of the prints.