Printmaking Techniques - Planographic and Relief

Planographic - lithography: a drawing is completed on a smooth block of limestone using a grease pencil.  The stone is treated with nitric acid and gum arabic, cleaning and etching the stone. Water is then sponged on the block.  Ink is rolled on the stone, accepted by the greased areas.  I dampened sheet of paper is then placed on the block which then undergoes a scraping process of the lithographic press.  The results can be quite extraordinary.  Here is an example, taken from Fox Talbot's "Pencil of Nature":

The second medium we discussed today was the Relief process, in particular the woodcut.  An artist draws an image on a wooden block.  The printmaker then gouges away the area that will not receive ink for the final print.  If the paper is white, the printmaker gouges away the white areas in varying degrees.  The block is then rolled with ink using a brayer, and then pressed in a printing press.  Here is an example, entitled "East Side New York", by Albert Potter:

Tomorrow: The Intaglio Process and The Stencil Process.

Excerpts from "Relief Print-Making" by Gerald F. Brommer.