CANUIT

The stonecut is a variation of the woodcut. A soapstone slab is painted white, then the printer carefully copies the drawing onto the stone using black India ink. The areas that should not to be printed are chisseld away. The printer inks the image with a soft rubber roller, sometimes using more colours at once, and covers the image with a piece of ricepaper. Rubbing the paper against the the carved image with various pressure, to create different degrees of sharpness. The different colours used will merge and blend into interesting patterns. At last the paper is peeled off and hung to dry. For each impression should the stone be re-inked

Stencilling is one of the basic printmaking techniques. Areas that should be "printed" are cut out from a stiff waxed paper, each colour has his own stencil. The so cutout image is directly placed over a sheet of paper. The artist now applies the ink in tiny amounts with brushes onto the paper by pounding the ink through the unblocked openings. The same colour needs to be stippled on over and over again. By varying the density of the ink applied soft transitions from darker to lighter shades can be achieved.

With a sharp metal tool the artist incised the image into a copper plate ( or any other kind of metal). The fine scratched image is further deepend with an acid. Ink is applied to the plate, and fills the grooves; then the rest of the plate is wiped clean. The image plate, covered with damp paper is put under presure and will reveal a new print. A new way of etching is introduced this year: ElectroTech. The technique involves passing a low voltage electrical current through a bath of zinc and copper sulphate solution. The electric current moves metal from the etched plate to a collector plate, resulting in a style very similar to that produced by the techniques used by the original Holman printmaking studio.

This technique is based on the natural antipathy of grease and water. The image is drawn directly onto a flat slab of limestone,by using grease crayons or special inks. The slab is then inked. The ink will stay on top of the greasy parts, and be absorbed by the not greasy parts. The image is then covered with damp paper and gently presure will create the printed image. Four stones are needed to create a full colour print, the three basic colours and black. Lithography allows the artist freedom of line and fine detail. Also the effects which occurs by using pencils, crayons or even chalk are still visible.

The image is chiselled in relief onto a flat piece of wood. If the artwork requires different colours, several separate woodblocks are used. Each piece is inked separatly, and one by one carefully printed on one sheet.

In the silkscreen technique are areas blocked out on a screen through wich paint is pushed. For every new colour different areas have to be blocked out. Silkscreening is the least used technique in the arctic region.