Counterproof

Last updated July 15, 2019

In printmaking, a counterproof is a print taken off from another just printed, which, by being passed through the press, gives a copy in reverse, and of course in the same position as that of the plate from which the first was printed, the object being to enable the printmaker to inspect the state of the plate.^[1]

Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each print produced is not considered a "copy" but rather is considered an "original". This is because typically each print varies to an extent due to variables intrinsic to the printmaking process, and also because the imagery of a print is typically not simply a reproduction of another work but rather is often a unique image designed from the start to be expressed in a particular printmaking technique. A print may be known as an impression. Printmaking is not chosen only for its ability to produce multiple impressions, but rather for the unique qualities that each of the printmaking processes lends itself to.

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink, and accelerated the process. Typically used for texts, the invention and global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film, keeping the non-printing areas ink-free. The modern "web" process feeds a large reel of paper through a large press machine in several parts, typically for several metres, which then prints continuously as the paper is fed through.

Counterproofing was used to produce the finest quality copperplate printing; the second print consisted of delicate lines, and lacked the beveled impressions seen in the original print.^[2]

To counter-prove is also to pass a drawn design in black lead or red chalk through the press, after having moistened with a sponge both that and the paper on which the counterproof is to be taken.^[3]

Graphite allotrope of carbon, mineral, substance

Graphite, archaically referred to as plumbago, is a crystalline form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a hexagonal structure. It occurs naturally in this form and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Under high pressures and temperatures it converts to diamond. Graphite is used in pencils and lubricants. Its high conductivity makes it useful in electronic products such as electrodes, batteries, and solar panels.

Sanguine or red chalk is chalk of a reddish-brown colour, so called because it resembles the colour of dried blood. It has been popular for centuries for drawing. The word comes via French from the Italian sanguigna and originally from the Latin "sanguis".

Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres of cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. It is a versatile material with many uses, including writing, printing, packaging, cleaning, decorating, and a number of industrial and construction processes. Papers are essential in legal or non-legal documentation.

Related Research Articles

Webster's Dictionary is any of the dictionaries edited by Noah Webster in the early nineteenth century, and numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's name. "Webster's" has become a genericized trademark in the U.S. for dictionaries of the English language, and is widely used in English dictionary titles. Merriam-Webster is the corporate heir to Noah Webster's original works, which are in the public domain.

Iceland spar, formerly known as Iceland crystal, is a transparent variety of calcite, or crystallized calcium carbonate, originally brought from Iceland, and used in demonstrating the polarization of light. It occurs in large readily cleavable crystals, is easily divisible into rhombuses, and is remarkable for its birefringence. This means that the index of refraction of the crystal is different for light of different polarization. A ray of unpolarized light passing through the crystal divides into two rays of perpendicular polarization directed at different angles, called double refraction. So objects seen through the crystal appear doubled.

William Blades, English printer and bibliographer, was born at Clapham, London.

Thomas Curson Hansard was an English pressman, son of the printer Luke Hansard.

Thomas Webster, was a British painter of genre scenes of school and village life, many of which became popular through prints. He lived for many years at the artists' colony at Cranbrook in Kent.

Mosaic gold or bronze powder refers to tin(IV) sulfide as used as a pigment in bronzing and gilding wood and metal work. It is obtained as a yellow scaly crystalline powder. The alchemists referred to it as aurum musivum, or aurum mosaicum. The term mosaic gold has also been used to refer to ormolu and to cut shapes of gold leaf, some darkened for contrast, arranged as a mosaic. The term bronze powder may also refer to powdered bronze alloy.

A bressummer, breastsummer, summer beam are load bearing beams in a timber framed building. The word summer derived from sumpter or French sommier, "a pack horse", meaning "bearing great burden or weight". "To support a superincumbent wall", "any beast of burden", and in this way is similar to a wall plate.

A butlerage was a duty of two shillings on every ton of wine imported into England by merchant strangers; so called because it was paid to the king's butler for the king. The tax was first implemented in 1302 and stopped being levied in 1809.

In alchemy, cadmia is an oxide of zinc (tutty) which collects on the sides of furnaces where copper or brass was smelted, and zinc sublimed. The term is also applied to an ore of cobalt.

Camlet, also commonly known as camelot or camblet, is a woven fabric that might have originally been made of camel or goat's hair, later chiefly of goat's hair and silk, or of wool and cotton. The original form of this cloth was very valuable; the term later came to be applied to imitations of the original eastern fabric.

Caroline Howard Gilman was an American author. Her writing career spanned 70 years and include poems, novels, and essays.

In Ancient Roman regalia, a laticlave, or clavus, was a broad stripe or band of purple on the fore part of the tunic, worn by senators as an emblem of office, from which the difference of the tunica angusticlavia, and laticlavia.

In pre-modern chemistry and alchemy, cohobation was the process of repeated distillation of the same matter, with the liquid drawn from it; that liquid being poured again and again upon the matter left at the bottom of the vessel. Cohobation is a kind of circulation, only differing from it in this, that the liquid is drawn off in cohobation, as in common distillation, and thrown back again; whereas in circulation, it rises and falls in the same vessel, without ever being drawn out.

In old English law, a commission of rebellion, or writ of rebellion, was a process of contempt on the nonappearance of a defendant. It was issued out when a man, after proclamation issued out of the chancery, or the exchequer, and made by the sheriff, to present himself, under pain of his allegiance, to the court by a certain day, does not appear.

In English ecclesiastical law, contentious jurisdiction is jurisdiction over matters in controversy between parties, in contradistinction to voluntary jurisdiction, or that exercised upon matters not opposed or controverted.

Crotalum Kind of clapper used in religious dances in classical antiquity

In classical antiquity, a crotalum was a kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in ancient Greece and elsewhere, including the Korybantes.

In military fortification, a contramure, or countermure, is a wall raised behind another, to supply its place when breached or destroyed.

The cosmolabe was an ancient astronomical instrument resembling the astrolabe, formerly used for measuring the angles between heavenly bodies. It is also called pantacosm. Jacques Besson also uses this name, or universal instrument, for his invention described in Le cosmolabe (1567), which could be used for astrometry, cartography, navigation, and surveying.

Cyphonism was a form of punishment by the κύφων (kyphon), a sort of wooden pillory by which the neck of the malefactor was bent or weighed downward. Formerly, this term was widely believed to refer to scaphism, a form of punishment in which the criminal's naked body was smeared with honey, and exposed him to flies, wasps, etc.

An ovariole is one of the tubes of which the ovaries of most insects are composed. Typically an insect will have two ovaries. The constituent ovarioles lead to two oviducts, which converge into a single oviduct. The ovarioles are composed of a germarium and a set of ovarial follicles.

References

↑ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Porter, Noah, ed. (1913). "Webster's entry needed". Webster's Dictionary . Springfield, Massachusetts: C. & G. Merriam Co.
↑ "Counterproof Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine ". Women's Work: Printing Techniques. Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology. 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
↑ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "^{article name needed}". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.

This printmaking-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Porter, Noah, ed. (1913). "Webster's entry needed". Webster's Dictionary . Springfield, Massachusetts: C. & G. Merriam Co.

[2] "Counterproof Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine ". Women's Work: Printing Techniques. Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology. 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-10.

[3] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "^{article name needed}". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.