This week we are happy to welcome Bruce Levy, a renowned book conservator. Since 1980, Bruce has worked with high-end rare book dealers, collectors, and institutions throughout the United States.
This week we introduce Sean E. Richards, of the Byzantium Bindery. Sean is a true craftsman who specializes in book restoration and conservation. He combines modern conservation methods with traditional techniques to deliver superior results.
Screen printing is a printmaking technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas.
Letterpress printing is a form of relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image.
Relief is an image created by a printmaking process, such as woodcut, where the areas of the matrix (plate or block) that are to show printed black (typically) are on the original surface; the parts of the matrix that are to be blank (white) having been cut away, or otherwise removed. Printing the image is therefore a relatively simple matter of inking the face of the matrix and bringing it in firm contact with the paper; a printing-press may not be needed as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a simple tool.
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate.
Lithography (from the Greek - lithos, 'stone' + - graph 'to write') is a printmaking method using a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface. Invented in 1796 by Bavarian author Alois Senefelder as a low-cost method of publishing theatrical works, lithography can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or another suitable material.
