Hampton Photo Arts

Damage due to heat The destructive effects of heat are often closely associated to excessive dryness and to excessive humidity. When heat is very dry, paper becomes very brittle and friable and the coloured areas as well as the inks become scaly. When heat is very damp, various kinds of plant life may begin to develop. If the temperature rises excessively, the "burned" paper turns reddish or leaves a well known brownish border area. Not all papers can be regenerated after suffering from excessive heat. To regain a certain suppleness, a print should be placed in damp (but not excessively damp) air. However, when paper becomes brittle, it must be reinforced by a backing-up sheet of paper. The areas of the paper that have turned reddish should be removed being careful not to cause rips and the missing pieces should be replaced with cut outs. Only in some cases, can bleachings be undertaken.

Damage due to the hyper acidity of paper If a paper is excessively acid it will lose its colour after a certain amount of time. It will also grow darker and will end up by destroying itself as the fibrous structure will slowly be annihilated. The hyper acidity of paper can be measured with a pH meter or with pH papers which turn colour when put into contact with a wet surface. This problem can easily be remedied by washing the paper and by applying some alcaline solutions.

Alterations and damage caused by biological agents The mushrooms and bacteria that live on paper develop in a damp and hot atmosphere, especially if the prints are poorly aired or if they are kept tightly packed in groups. The softest papers are the most vulnerable ones. Biological alterations usually manifest themselves in the form of yellow spots but they may also be brown, blue, or black. At times a slight white growth can be seen on the paper surface. The parasites that cause this kind of damage can only be removed by disinfecting the paper.

There are various ways of disinfecting paper: • gas or vapour emanation carried out in a hermetically sealed box. • evaporation of a liquid fungicide. Two sheets of tissue paper are impregnated with the fungicide and then put above and below the print to be disinfected. • vaporisation of a disinfectant.

One of the most often used products for this kind of work is "Thymol" in crystal form which is applied by emanation. The damage caused by mushrooms and bacteria, as well as that caused by insects and rodents, must be corrected using the means mentioned in the previous paragraphs.

What is the difference between a fine art print and a reproduction? A fine art print is a "multiple original" made by hand, one impression at a time, from a plate (usually copper or zinc) etched by the artist. A "reproduction", on the other hand, is a photo-mechanically reproduced image, using a printer, without any intervention of the artist. Reproductions are usually called posters, iris or giclee prints, and have little monetary value. Production methods that do not involve the artist, inevitably degrade the value of the print. Despite good quality printers and up-to-date technology used to produce giclees or iris prints, the result will never be as good. Moreover, there is no physical basis for any limit in the number of possible impressions (usually printed by the thousands), though edition size may be artificially limited to support a price desired by the publisher. With original fine art prints, the tactile quality of the ink on paper and the printing style, are inseparable parts of the artwork.

Original Prints and Limited Editions The notion of limited editions and the numbered prints that go with them is a notion that developed in the late 19th century. Earlier prints were limited in the number of their impressions solely by market demand or by the maximum number that could be printed by the medium used.

A limited edition print is one in which a limit is placed on the number of impressions pulled in order to create a scarcity of the print. Limited editions are usually numbered and are often signed to increase prestige, rarity and to induce building collections. The number of prints in any edition is established by the artist beforehand, though normally imposed by plate wear (etchings, aquatints, woodblocks, lithographies, all wear down at a different rate). Each impression in the edition is signed and numbered by the artist in pencil. There are usually two numbers separated by a slash, (for example: 4/25). This means that 25 prints are the total impressions of this numbered edition, while 4 is the specific designation for that particular impression. For every edition there are also artist proofs which are extra prints pulled by the artist to proof the edition. There can also be different states from any particular editions, as well as publisher's prints. The artist proofs or publisher's prints may never exceed 10% of the total number of impressions in one edition. Once an edition is complete the original block, plate or stone is either defaced or destroyed so that no more can be made.

How are fine art prints numbered? Prints are not signed and numbered in the order in which they were printed. Therefore, an impression with a lower number isn't more valuable or better than an impression with a higher number. Although each pass of the plate through the etching press wears down the plate a little, editions of 75 to 100 impressions don't suffer any loss in quality.

What increases value in a print? A natural consequence of making prints by hand is difference within the edition when interpretive variations occur with different ways of removing ink from the plate. Handcoloring may further increase the value of a print encompassing mediums of watercolor, acrylic, pencil or gouache for coloration of the work. The price of each print is generally based on the size of the edition; prints from a limited edition, are worth more than those from an unlimited edition. The smaller the edition, the better. Although in editions all prints look the same, slight differences can be found. di The master printer or the artist himself will constantly check for consistency and sameness when priting an edition. This is not always easy to obtain as the thickness or consistency of the etching ink as well as the dampness of the etching paper and the speed of the etching press will also affect the final look of each impression. Prints can also be manipulated on purpose when wiping or adding color, creating a different print each time. This is also known and monoprinting. Rembrandt, for example, used to wipe his plates with a personal style, changing and moving the ink here and there so as to have diffferent tones from one impression to the other.