Digital prints are images made from a digital file using a printer that applies a very fine drop of ink on paper. As digital technology has developed, the question of print stability has led to the production of increasingly stable inks and papers. Today, many options of inks are expected to last over a century if prints are properly stored and depending on the paper used. The terms archival pigment print and giclee print (taken from the French term meaning "to spray") are also used for such prints. An artist's digital print is not a reproduction but a limited edition work of art that does not exist in any other form. 

Artists use digital printmaking techniques for various reasons, a major one being that it allows them to break free from the constraints associated with traditional printing methods. Prints initially created digitally can also be printed as etchings, lithographs, and screenprints using photographic processes. At Edinburgh Printmakers, we offer a digital printing service that includes professional exhibition-quality archival inkjet printing.

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Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that uses paper coated with a light-sensitive solution to create a vibrant cyan-blue print. An object or design on acetate is placed on top of the paper and exposed to UV light. A white ‘negative’ image is created where the paper is covered, and the exposed area turns blue. Once the paper is rinsed in water, the exposed image is fixed. Cyanotype was one of the first photographic methods and was used as a low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, known as blueprints.

The English botanist Anna Atkins was the first person to use cyanotypes to illustrate a book with photographic images. In her book ‘Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions’ 1843, cyanotypes allowed her to accurately record plants rather than based on descriptions and drawings, which was very helpful in scientific research.

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Etching is an intaglio printing process. The term "intaglio" means a figure or a design cut or hollowed out of any substance. In the etching process, a metal plate is covered with an acid/mordant-resistant layer, and the design is drawn through this ground to expose the metal to the mordant. The lines can now be corroded or “bitten” into the plate using a mordant. When the biting process is complete, the ground is removed from the plate, and the plate is ready for inking-up. 

The printmaker then places the inked-up plate on the press “bed" and places their paper (which was dampened beforehand to make it pliable) on top. Several fine woolen blankets are placed on top, and then plate and paper, cushioned by the blankets, are driven through the press. The pressure forces the paper into the ink-filled lines cut into the metal by the action of the acid during the biting process. The print is then peeled off the plate and left to dry. To make another print or “impression,” the inking-up process must be repeated. 

Today, more artists are aware of the potential health hazards associated with traditional printmaking materials. At Edinburgh Printmakers, we use corrosive salts to bite the plates rather than the traditional Nitric acid; we also use alternative grounds, stop-outs, and acrylic resist aquatint, which involve fewer toxic fumes and solvents.

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Monotype prints cannot be repeated. What differentiates monotypes from all other printmaking techniques is the fact that the artist does not leave permanent marks on the printing plate. The process involves drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface such as metal, glass, or acrylic. There are two kinds of monotypes: Plate and Trace. Plate monotype is quite a painterly process, whereas trace monotype is very drawing-heavy.

The colour is directly applied to a featureless plate’s surface, which serves as a vehicle to transfer the artist’s motif onto paper. Although a monotype cannot be repeated, as most of the colour transfers to the paper when it is run through the press, a residue of the image, called a ‘ghost,’ remains on the plate. The ghost can be used for another, weaker impression or left and added to for a different variation of the image.

A monoprint differs from a monotype by being produced from a plate that already has a printable image on it rather than from a blank plate. It is often part of a series, where the image already on the plate is varied by adding new impermanent marks to the plate before each print is pulled. This makes each print unique but still related to the other prints in the series.

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Screenprinting is the process of transferring a stencilled design onto a surface using a mesh, ink and a squeegee. Fabric or paper are the most common materials, but with specialised ink, it is possible to print on wood, metals, glass and plastics.

The method involves creating a stencil on a fine mesh screen and then pushing the ink or paint through to create an imprint of the motif on the surface beneath. Stencils can be made in various ways; masking tape or vinyl can be used to cover areas of the screen, a stencil can be ‘painted’ onto the screen using a ‘screen blocker’, with glue or lacquer tape or light-sensitive emulsion can be applied to create a stencil which is developed similarly to a photograph.

Artworks made by screen printing can use one or several colours of ink. In the case of multicoloured prints, individual colours must be applied using separate stencils for each ink.

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An innovative new printmaking process that uses remarkable water-washable photopolymer plates, which are both fast and safe, Toyobo produces results similar to the 19th century process of photogravure.

Toyobo is a brand of non-toxic photopolymer plate that is used to produce polymer photogravure prints, exposing photographic images on a metal plate with a photosensitive layer.

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