Stencils

A thin sheet of card, plastic, or metal with a pattern or letters cut out of it, used to produce
the cut design on the surface below by the application of ink or paint through the holes-
Oxford dictionary
The advantage of using stencils is they are quick and easy to us and it can be used multiple
times. Stencils were original linked back to prehistoric period. Since then they have been
used for illustrations in books, advertisement and clothing manufacturing. In the last couple
of decades stencils have been used by graffiti artist on a much higher level. Graffiti artist
such as Banksy, Shepard Fairy and Blek le Rat have been using them for years and become
well known for using them. The brilliant thing with using stencils is you can be incredibly
talented or you can have no knowledge of art at all and still be able to create one. If you
arent great at drawing they are even programs to help. But to create stencils to a good
standard it is time consuming at first.

1. To create one you need a piece of card, plastic, metal etc.
2. Place or draw you design on to the material
3. Cut out your design with a razor, scalpel, scissors etc. Its relatively cheap to gain these
pieces of equipment, the only expensive piece being what compound you us to apply to the
stencil paint, spray paint and how much you willing to pay for it to create a better finish.
3. Once youve cut it out place it on a surface and apply
your paint and it will pass though the gaps on to it. The
best thing about stencils is once youve used it you can us
it again and again until it is useless, but if youre carful it
can be used hundreds of times.



Linocutting
A design or form carved in relief on a block of
linoleum-Oxford Dictionary
The advantage of linocutting is it can used to
manufacture large amounts of prints all
identical. It also creates a style that looks
professional and as it is manually made it has a
personal feel to it.
The disadvantage of Linocutting is it takes a lot
of skill to perfect it, its time consuming and if
you make a mistake its very hard to fix.
Linocutting is used mainly in art. Its also used to create greetings cards and leaflets with a
personal touch. They are popular because even though they are mas produced they still
have to be printed individually and have a unique feel to them.
The equipment you will needed to create lino cutting is as
follows:
Lino
Ink
Roller
Lino cutter

Once you have got the items you can start to make you
linocutting.
1. Draw your design onto your lino
2. Start to cut out your design with the lino cutter
3. Once your happy with how it looks, start to apply the ink to the lino with the roller
4. After inking, place a piece of paper/card on to the lino get a clean roller or use the
edge of your hand, rub the paper firmly.
5. After this slowly peel the paper and you will be left with your print



Screen Printing
force ink or metal on to (a surface) through a prepared screen of fine material so as to
create a picture or pattern
The advantages of screen printing is its quite quick and simple once youve got the hang of
it, however the disadvantage of it is its possible for the ink to leak therefore ruining your
material. The most common place screen printing is used is in clothing. Its away in which
you can create many different patterns or the same on clothing over and over again quick
and easy. It also allows people to design their own clothing. Its also used by many artists to
create paintings.
A lot of knowledge isnt really needed to do screen printing, once you have got the idea its
quite easy to pick up. You can make large amount in a short time once you know. In terms of
cost it can be a bit for the ink depend how you
want the quality.
The items that you will need to do screen
printing:
Ink
Squeegee
Image
Photo emulsion
Screen

1. Firstly find or make a screen. You can do this
by using a photo frame, then cover it with mesh
2. Create your image
3. Coat your screen in emulsion
4. Expose the image on the screen
6. Lay a t-shirt underneath and using the squeegee move the paint across the mesh firmly.
7. Take your t-shirt out and leave to dry and youll be done



Letter Pressing
Printing from a hard raised image under pressure,
using viscous ink
Letterpress printing is a type of relief printing with a
printing press. Relief printing is when protruding
areas facing away from the plat are inked, some
areas that are not protruding therefore will not be
inked leaving un-inked areas when printed and
creating your image. The letters and numbers used in
Letterpress are cut onto individual blocks allowing the person to arrange them in any order
they like. This is one strength of letterpress; it means its relatively quick to create a new
print. Its also very easy to create a large amount of them in a small time period. The
disadvantages of letterpressing is although once it was set up you could make a lot of prints
in a small time it took a long time to arrange all the letters on the print to start with. Also
compared to modern day printing it is very time consuming.
Letterpressing was originally used to print books, the first book every printed by a
Letterpress was a 42-line Bible also known as The Gutenberg Bible. Nowadays its more
commonly used for arts and crafts, posters and invitations because of its homemade and
personal feel.
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg
was the first artist to use the letterpress although
follow a lawsuit that he lost his investor putting
Peter Schffer in charge of the print shop. This
caused Johannes Gutenberg advanced printing to
no longer be a secret and it soon spread across
Europe.
To make letterpressing you first need to know how
to us the equipment what can be time consuming.
It also takes a lot of practice to perfect a good standard. The equipment needed for
letterpressing :
1. A press
2. Ink
3. Paper
4. Letter moulds


Step by step:
1. First thing you have to do is make what you want to print. Arrange the letters on the
grid how you want it to appear.
2. Then apply the ink over the top of the moulds
3. Place the paper over the top and close the press
4. Remove the paper from the paper and you will have your print



Photocopying
a photographic copy of printed or written material produced by a
process involving the action of light on a specially prepared
surface
Photocopy is a way in which you can electronically copy a sheet of
paper a print it off. They are usual built into an electronic printer.
The pros of using a photocopier are its very quick and easy to use
it takes a matter of seconds to complete and you can print
hundreds in minutes. The downside of photocopying is its never as
sharp as the original, plus if you photocopy a legal document it is
no long legally binding.
The only equipment you need to produce a photocopy is the photocopier its self and some
paper. You may need to purchase ink for the photocopier but this is not always required as
they hold a lot.

Laser printing
Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process
that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics by
passing a laser beam over a charged drum to define a
differentially charged image
Laser printing isnt used to specifically print anything, you
can print any type of document or file that can be but
onto paper. The pros of laser printing are it can print a
wide range of documents in a short amount of time in many formats. Apart from the ink
being expensive they are not many cons to laser printing that is why it is so widely use.