Printmaking

Lithography - Drawing with Crayons

When the printing press first appeared, it opened up a new medium—relief printing.  Artists could carve an image into a wooden block or metal sheet, ink the image and press paper against that image.  The resulting print was the first form of reproducible art.  As noted, “the artist would carve” an image, meaning that an artist more accustomed to painting or drawing was forced into another realm – that of the carver.  This was a less than normal medium for his expression.

Stone lithography was the first opportunity for the artist to use the more traditional techniques to create.  The prints made on stone would rival an original painting in terms of detail and color variations.  Stone lithography was very popular for a century during the 1800’s and is practiced today by many outstanding artists and lithography studios.

Although multiples of an image are “pulled” from the surface of the stone, the actual creation and execution of each is singular, and this makes the appeal to collectors and buyers more satisfying.  Since the artist has input on each and every sheet printed, the process—by its nature—is unique. 

The basics of lithography are very simple.  First the artist draws on the stone with a greasy crayon (like Stones Crayons) or paint or pencil.  Second, the stone is moistened with water and the parts of the stone not protected by the greasy medium soak up the water.  Third, oil-based ink is rolled onto the stone.  The greasy parts of the stone pick up the ink and the non-greasy ones do not.  Lastly, a paper is pressed onto the stone and the ink transfers from the stone to the paper.  Voila! 

In actuality, there is more to it, but these simple steps inform the novice how a lithographic print is made.  A bit more technical descriptions include the use of special stones from a quarry in Solenhofen, a town in Bavaria; litho crayons, pencils, paints of varying densities for different effects; acids and other materials to help the stone accept and hold the image; and a powerful press exerting huge pressures to draw the image from the stone to the paper.  When different colors are desired, a separate stone is used for each color.  The stones are expensive, very heavy and are used repeatedly.

Stone preparation includes the slow grinding away of half a millimeter of the stone.  This removes any previous image and prepares the surface for a new drawing/painting.  With varying hardnesses of crayon, the artist draws his subject.  Any lettering must be drawn on the stone as a mirror image.  Alignment of multiple stones to complete a single image causes the difficulty of proper registration, or positioning, of multiple stones.  “Erasing” a mistake is virtually impossible.  A small error can be camouflaged, but a large mistake means you start over.

The use of crayons on stone is a great expressive tool and artists who select and use Stones Crayons have the options of many different hardness selections as well as different thicknesses of line—1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” widths give great flexibility combined with hardness ranges from 1 to 4.  Graphic Chemical & Ink Company offers a great selection of crayons, inks and all the tools you need to create your original lithograph.  You are in for a most enjoyable treat!  See your retailer and visit www.graphicchemical.com.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 18 No. 11 — September 2008