Lessons in Lithography

Plate preparation

HKOP ran a lithography workshop on Monday 26 April, which I was invited to attend. I did a one-day workshop in the first year of the MA course at UWE - I love the way that lithography is able to accurately reproduce in print the subtlety of drawing (it’s probably the printing process that is closest to drawing and it can capture beautifully the essence of the drawn or brushed mark). What put me off was the complexity of the process and the ample opportunity for things to go wrong!

So it was great to have the chance to be re-introduced to it, under the expert guidance of Yung Sau Mui, who trained at Tamarind in the US and who has had many years of teaching students (of all levels of experience) every aspect with the process - preparing stones and plates, mixing ink, printing editions and much much more.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the process here as either you will as a print student be already familiar with the process (and undoubtedly know more than me), or you will have a layman’s knowledge in which case I would encourage you to look on the internet or in a library, where you will get far more expert (and accurate) information than I can provide here on this blog.

Here’s the basics - Lithography relies on the immiscibility of oil and water. A plate of limestone or aluminium treated to resemble limestone is drawn or painted on with a waxy substance and the surface is etched chemically leaving the areas covered in the waxy material untreated. A thin film of water is then applied to the plate that will only be retained in the etched areas. An oil based ink can then be applied that will only stick to the areas of original drawing. Contact with paper (or offset roller) will then produce a print of the original marks.

Mixing Ink - temperature and humidity are real problems in HK

Yung says “I don’t know how to explain lithography, either in Cantonese or English, I just know how to do it”. And she goes on to stress that you can read all the books, webpages, blogs you like but the only way to learn it is to do it.

She’s right, and it’s good advice. We all have a go at preparing and etching an aluminium plate (having made our own drawings, removing the drawn marks, sponging, rolling up (the ink) and proof printing the plate. Of sponging, Yung says “sponge like it’s your face, not Philip’s face!” which she thinks is terribly funny - but actually it is a good way of saying how gentle you need to be when you are moistening the plate frame so that the ink won’t stick.

Running a proof on news-print

We don’t have time to print the edition, but it’s been a good day and I’ve learned a lot by hands-on experience. The process has not got any less complicated but having a go at doing all the stages has really helped my understanding of the process. I can see why people get hooked on it.

Footnote: the climate here in HK makes printing a nightmare! Humidity affects paper, temperature makes ink far too liquid. Air-conditioning removes moisture from the air and affects paper and drying times. Water for sponging plates has to be cooled with ice-blocks. In the high summer when it's consistently above 33 degrees C and very high humidity, it's even worse (July - September it can reach 40C - I can't imagine how unbearable that must be, Yung says it requires supreme energy even to breathe; printing editions that are consistent in these kinds of conditions can be very problematic.