A stencil is made up for each colour of the image and put over a fine fabric mesh that is stretched over a metal frame. The coloured ink is spread over the mesh and stencil and the ink falls through the stencil to the underlying material (usually an art paper) to produce the image. The surplus ink is washed away. Once the ink has dried the next stencil (i.e. the next colour) is placed and the process begins again.
A photogram is a photograph made without a lens or camera: objects are placed directly on top of a sheet of photographic paper which is then exposed to light. Where the objects obstruct the light, the paper remains unexposed (light in tone), while the rest darkens through exposure.
C-type printing involves printing colour paper enlargements from small, colour negatives. This is the most common type of colour printing found in the high street and mini-labs.
Also known as heliogravure, photogravure is arguably the finest photomechanical means of reproducing a photograph in large editions. Copper plates are acid-etched directly from an original silver print; the etched areas then hold differing amounts of ink in order to correspond to the tones of the original print. If prints remain untrimmed, the impression of…
Toning, or toned black and white: toning images allows an artist/printer to alter the colours of a photographic print (by replacing the silver in the silver salts with another metal). Toning can be used as an aesthetic decision by the artist, or it can also be used to improve the archival properties of a print….
Digital colour coupler Colour coupler prints, or chromogene prints, are very similar to standard C-type prints, but the silver salts ‘couple’ with coloured dyes, rather than being replaced by them. The end result is very similar to standard C-type prints. Colour coupler prints have the benefit of using the same extremely light-sensitive silver salts as…
Polaroid is a manufacturer/trademark of a photographic system which gives ‘instant’ prints, by which film, paper and developing solution are combined in one unit. As soon as the film/paper is exposed the image begins to develop, developing fully within a maximum of 5 minutes. All Polaroids on eyestorm have been professionally ‘stopped’ and removed from their…
