- There is no need to replace printing plates

- Costs are much lower than traditional methods of printing

- Has a very short tun-around time

Disadvantages

- There could be a loss f very fine detail

- Has a higher cost per page than traditional methods

- You can only use standard colours with this technique

Skills & Knowledge required

- You would need to know how to use the machine for example the different settings, if you wanted to print in black and white or in colour, also you would need to know how to change the quality of the print, high quality printing would take longer.

Costs

- Digital screen printing has a high cost per unit but has a low cost to set up, however digital screening is getting faster and therefor cheaper per unit. However the cost is brought down because the printing plates do not need to be changed like they do in traditional printing methods.

Speed 

- The overall speed of this process is fast, like an inkjet printer. Hover not as fast printing as a laser printer.

Technical Considerations

- To complete this process you will need paper, ink, and the digital screen printer

Uses through History

- This technique is used for home and office printing. This technique is also used for personalised printing for example children's books with children's names writing in them also photo books for example wedding books.

- Cheaper to buy than laser printers

- High quality images and documents are produced

- They are smaller than laser printers which makes them easier to house or put on an office desk

Disadvantages

- The cartridges are expensive to buy and can even end up costing more than the printer

- The inkjet is slower than the laser printer

- You have to wait for the image or document to dry when it has come out of the printer, this makes the process even slower

Skills & Knowledge required

- You would need to have basic computer and technology skills. It would be helpful to know how to fix the photocopier if it has a technical fault or breakdown. You would also need to know how to change the ink because they would need to be changed every so often.

Costs

- The price of inkjet printers can range from £70 to around £500 depending on the quality speed and whether it is wireless or not. Having a wireless printer would cost more than if it was wire.

Speed

- The inkjet printer is slower than the laser printer, however the process is still almost instant.

Technical Considerations

- For this process you will need ink cartridges, plain paper or photo paper if an extremely high quality image is required, an inkjet printer and a computer to get the image or text off of.

Uses through History

- In 1953, the first high speed printer was developed. The inkjet has been used over the years to print high quality text and images and is still used today in households, schools and offices. You can get inkjet printers in small sizes so they are easy to store and put on desks.

- A laser can move extremely fast decreasing the time of the process considerably

- The laser can produce incredible precision

- High quality outcomes

Disadvantages

- Laser printers are more expensive than inkjet but does cost less to keep them running

- They are more expensive than a typical inkjet printer

- They use a larger amount of electricity to be run

Skills & Knowledge required

- You will need to know how to change the settings on the laser printer, for example if you wanted colour or a black and white printout. Also you would need how to change the ink when the printer runs out. It would be useful to have basic technology skills if something small goes wrong you would be able to fix it.

Costs

- The cost of a laser printer depends on the quality, the speed and whether the printer is wireless or not. You can purchase a high quality printer for around £300 or a not so high quality slower printer for £50. Laser printers need toner to run and this is priced at around £70.

Speed

- Laser printing is an extremely fast process as the laser can move very quickly.

Technical Considerations

- To laser print you will need paper, ink and a laser printer.

Uses through History

- Laser printers are a relatively modern technology that started in the year 1969. Laser printers are used in offices because of their efficiently. One laser printer can be used by an entire office. Laser printers were not as popular as inkjet because they cost more to buy but the prices are now decreasing making them more affordable.

- This is an extremely fast process

- The cost to photocopy is low

- Photocopiers can be brought for home use

Disadvantages

- This process is not always reliable

- Costs to the environment

- Photocopiers are bulky and difficult to store

Skills & Knowledge required

- You would need to have basic computer and technology skills. It would be helpful to know how to fix the photocopier if it has a technical fault or breakdown. You would also need to know how to change the ink because they would need to be changed every so often.

Costs

- A very high quality modern photocopier could cost up to £600 but there are less expensive lower quality around £100 which would be affordable for most people. However the cost doesn't stop there, when the ink runs out it is expensive to buy new ink pricing around £40.00 each making buying the equipment expensive but to run it and the buy paper is low in cost.

Speed

- Photocopying is an extremely fast process once the paper is inserted and the settings have been selected then the photocopier gets to work almost instantly creating a copy in a matter of seconds.

Technical Considerations

- The materials that you need in order to complete this process, these materials include a photocopier, ink and paper.

Uses through History

-  The first photocopy was made using a zinc plate covered with sulfur. Colored toner became available in the 1950's, however full colour copiers were not released until 1968. Throughout history to this modern day photocopiers have been used to do the simple task of identically copying one piece of paper onto another. This method is used in households, offices and schools to copy text or images.

- A lot of products can be made at the same time

- this process is quicker than hand printing

-

Disadvantages

- The machine will cost a lot to initially purchase

- Inks will need to be brought for the machine which is also costly

-

Skills & Knowledge required

- You would need to know how to work the machine in order to produce high quality finished products, also if you spend a lot of money buying the machine then you will want to make a profit by selling the products after you make them. You would need to know if there is a market for the products you will be producing making sure people will want to buy them otherwise time and money ill be wasted.

Costs

- The cost of buying the actual machine if you buy it online would cost around £1.500 which is unafforadbale for most people, then ontop theres the fabric inks that would need to be put into the machine to print the image or text onto the fabric, these would cost around £25.00 each time these will need to be replaced constantly depending on how many prints you makeSpeed

Speed

- This process is quicker than hand printing the screen prints as you can set the machine to do all the work and also print more than one at a time like you can do in hand printing. However you still can mass produce products from this method like producing hundreds would still be time consuming.

Technical Considerations

- For this process you will need fabric inks, fabric to print onto and the screen process printing machine, without nay of these this method would not be possible

Uses through History

-

- The price per unit is low keeping costs of this method down

- The image produced is of a high quality

- The process is simple

Disadvantages

- The costs in order to start up are very high so there would need to be hundreds sold to make a profit

- The process is considerably time consuming

- The ink contains chemicals which could be harmful for the person completing the method

Skills & Knowledge required

- You might need to be skilled in working with plastics, knowing the basic information about different plastics. For example it would be useful to know that property of polyester is that it has excellent strength and is lightweight.

Costs

- Gravure is an expensive process however the outcome is always to a very high standard.

Speed

- The process is considerably time consuming and slow however the outcome is always to a high quality.

Technical Considerations

- The main equipment that you need in order to complete this process are films such as polyester, OOP, nylon and PE, you would need paper, carton board and aluminium foil.

Uses through History

- The gravure printing method began in the 1300's with the creative artists of the Italian Renaissance. They engraved fine markings and etchings into soft copper by hand. "The modern gravure printing press resulted from the invention of photography and the adoption of rotary printing from cylinders." http://www.wmich.edu/pci/gravure/

Products made from the gravure method these days are food packaging, wallpaper, furniture laminates, paneling and magazines. It is also used for printing postage stamps and decorative plastic laminates, such as kitchen worktops.

- This process is straight forward

- The image can be re-inked and be used again multiple times to make identical copies of the image or text

- This is one of the most versatile method of printing meaning you can adapt and create a very wide variety of prints to fit your desired needs

Disadvantages

- This process is extremely time consuming

- This is a slow and expensive process

- The letterpress technique doesnt have the capabilities of what modern technology has

Skills & Knowledge required

- You would need to be patient and also be able to cut round small paper lettering with precision to create a successful outcome. However this process is straightforward not many skills are required and there is little knowledge needed.

Costs

- The cost of this process is expensive because it is essential for photographs and drawing to be converted into engravings which is a slow and expensive process as you have to change the images into raised metal dots and lines.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6365830_disadvantages-letterpress-printing.html

Speed

- This process is very slow and time consuming especially if you need to apply colour, each colour has to be completely dry before applying a new different colour. Also another reason why this process is slow is because each letter has to be placed on separately. This is why people have changed to using the lithography process, however people still use this technique for fancy invitation cards and special posters.

Technical Considerations

- The materials needed to complete this process are paper, ink, printing plates, letter print tool and the epic six letterpress printing machine.

Uses through History

- The letterpress technique began in the 1400's, it was the primary form of printing and communication for over 500 years. In the earlier years this method was used to publish books but because there are more modern less expensive ways of publishing books this method is now used as an art form more than a standard printing practice. The letterpress technique is still used today to create fancy invitation cards and special posters, they are mostly one off special products because of the cost and the speed of the process.

http://elationpress.com/resources/the-history-of-letterpress-printing/ - This is where I found out about the history of the letterpress technique.

- The technique is low in cost

- The technique produces clear images with no impressions left on the page

-The technique produces high quality results

Disadvantages

- This technique is very complex

- The image can be easily smudged or blurred

- This process is time consuming

Skills & Knowledge required

- Basic drawing skills would be required to draw out the design. You also must be able to evenly smooth the surface of a stone or the process would not be successful. You should also know how to mix chemical solutions together correctly.

Costs

- The materials needed for this process would be difficult to get hold of because they aren't common substances, such as a large stone, arabic oil, acid, based solvent and iron oxide. Also you would need a press to apply to appropriate pressure onto the stone which if you didn't own one, paying out for one would be costly.

Speed

- The speed of this process is relatively slow because the artist has to draw round the designs edges and then colour the inside of the shape with a lithography pencil. Also at some points during the process you need to wait for the stone to dry.

Technical Considerations

- Materials needed are a stone, greasy materials, paint brush, tracing paper, iron oxide, image, pencil, greasy lithographic pencil, wooden bridge, scraping tool, talcum powder, acid, gum Arabic, oil based solvent, ink, roller, paper and a press

Uses through History

- Lithogrpahy is a relativly new popular technique. This is used today to produce books, newspapers, packaging and posters. These are just a few, this technique is used to produce just about any mass produced item which contains print and graphical images on it. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography - Information of modern day use of the lithography technique.

- You can use the block of wood more than once to create multiple, identical prints

- The materials are cheap to buy

- The materials to complee this technique are easy to find and buy

Disadvantages

- The process is time consuming

- There is no room for error, if you make a mistake whilst carving you can not undo

- When you have inked the wood you can't change the colour

Skills & Knowledge required

- You could need basic drawing skills to draw out the image you wish to engrave on the block of wood however would use a photographic image and trace it. You might need basic knowledge of different wood types, for example knowing the woods with a grain and loads of knots would be considerably harder to engrave as appose to a grain-less wood with no knots. Also you have hard and soft woods, the softer the wood the easier to engrave. Soft woods include, pine, spruce, Douglas-fir and more. Hard woods include teak, oak, birch and more; these woods would be extremely difficult to engrave or indent in any way. You should also be a skilled engraver as there would be no room for error.

Costs

- This technique would be very cheap, as the only thing you would need to buy is the engraving tools which can be purchased online for a small fee of £2.00 and found on the internet or an art and craft shop. You can also purchase carving wood from the internet at a price of £13.00. The rest of the materials are basic stationary that you would already have.

Speed

- This process would be very time consuming as it would take a considerable amount of time to engrave the wood by hand, but it does depend on the detail, the more detail the slower the process.

Technical Considerations

- You need a block of wood (preferably graininess as trying to cut against the grain would be difficult), various engraving tools, an image, sandpaper, ruler, image transfer paper, a marker pen, ink and a roller.

Uses through History

- This technique has been used for many years, it was originally used to print designs onto cloth, also used as book illustrations. People sometimes used to hand colour the design after printing. The woodcut technique is rarely used today as there are many other modern digital techniques of creating illustrations also it is such a lengthy process to keep repeating.

- Can be mass produced

- Any colour desired can be used, not just black and white creating colourful aesthetically pleasing pieces.

- Screen printing requires less initial steps than most other techniques

Disadvantages

- Time consuming

- The result of application can easily be affected by water or even be peeled away

- You can not create small detail with this technique

Skills & Knowledge required

- Unlike the etching and intaglio hand printing techniques, screen printing doesn't require you to have any drawing skills as you can use a photographic image. There are not any real skills and knowledge requirements for completing this process.

Costs

- The cost of photo sensitive emulsion averages out to around £16.00 per tub. The adhesive would cost around £3.00. The other materials such as the scissors and tape could be already found in a household meaning this would be a relatively cheap technique however if you do not own a light box it can be purchased over the internet at a price of around £38.00 and a heat gun being around £16.00 this would considerably increase the price.

Speed

- This process is quite time consuming as you have to wait a long time for the photo sensitive emulsion to dry in a cool dark place for a few hours meaning this process isn't instant.

Technical Considerations

- For this hand printing technique you will need a frame, a silk screen, a staple gun, scissors, photo sensitive emulsion, a knife, a spreader, an image on a transparent sheet of plastic, tape, a light screen, screen printer, adhesive, ink, a dryer and a heat gun.

Uses through History

- Andy Warhol was the artist that made the screen printing technique popular with his screen print of Marilyn Monroe. This technique was previously used to print logos, team information on bowling garments and soon after was used for printing on t-shirts. Screen printing is still widely used in this modern age for example posters, and display stands, this technique can be mass produced to make loads and loads of identical products.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_printing - This is where I found the uses through history to this modern day information from.

- This process is relatively quick

- Intaglio is quite a simplistic technique

- The plate shows little wear even after being used multiple times

Disadvantages

- Acid is required for this process which is a highly dangerous substance

- Basic art skills are required as hand drawing is necessary

- If you make a mistake whilst engraving you can't just rub it out, that mistake will remain on the plate forever

Skills & Knowledge required

- Like the etching process you also need basic drawing skills as this method requires you to hand draw a design onto the metal plate. To create a high quality piece you would also need to know how to create shading to create a realistic picture. You would also need to know how to use the v-shaped tool which engraves the metal plate.

Costs

- The cost of engraving tools are cheap and can be purchased on the internet or at any art and craft shops pricing at around £2.00 per tool. Acid would be much more difficult to purchase as you can not buy it over the internet. Materials such as the aquatint, dry-point needles and sandpaper aren't necessary for this process but are also cheap.This process wouldn't cost a considerable amount of money to complete.

Speed

- The speed of this process will be determined on the person, if they are a quick drawer the process would take less time as appose to someone who takes a long time to draw a piece. However overall the process is relatively fast as there is no waiting for any substances to dry off.

Technical Considerations

- To complete this method you will need a plate of metal that can be engraved, a v-shaped engraving tool to engrave the metal, a scraper to remove the curl shaped excess metal called a 'burr', a burnisher to remove the sharp metal after the 'burr' is removed, ink which is forced into the engraving, a coin (if curved lines are desired), an acid resistant coating, a transfer to act as a guide fr engraving the design onto the the coating, acid, water, aquatint (if tone is desired), acid resistant solution called stop-out varnish, sandpaper (if texture is desired) a dry-point needle and a press.

Uses through History

- This technique has been used throughout history, metal workers use it to engrave musical instruments, religious objects and armour. Also goldsmiths imprinted their work to record their designs and it is said that this is where printmaking was developed from. Common uses of this technique used in modern days are engraving banknotes, some postal stamps, newspapers and more.

- Relative simplistic

- Little knowledge of metal work is required

- This process can be repeated lots of times before the plate appears to be worn down

Disadvantages

- The process can be time consuming

- The process involves using acid which could be dangerous to the individual

- There is no room for error, any mistakes when engraving can not be undone

Skills & Knowledge required

- Although the process uses metal you do not require skills in working with metal. However basic art and creative skill would be necessary to create a high quality piece as the process requires hand drawing at one point, the better you can draw the better the outcome of the piece.

Cost

- The cost of this process would be relatively low as many of the materials are those that would possibly already be found in a household for example paper, ink, a large nail, water, a cleaning solution, a cloth and a blanket however perhaps wouldn't have acid, a press, wax or a file but these items could be purchased at a low price from the internet or art and craft shops.

Speed

- The speed of this method can be determined by the materials you own, for example if you have a hot plate the wax drys instantly as a pose to waiting for the wax to dry which could increase the time of the process. However over all etching is a relatively fast method of hand printing.

Technical Considerations

- For this method you will need a metal plate, a file to smooth the edges of the plate, wax, a large nail to engrave, acid, a feather to remove any bubbles from the plate when in the acid, a cleaning solution when brought out of the acid, a cloth to wipe the plate, paper soaked in water (damp), mixed ink, dry paper to clean the ink off and a blanket and roller to create the press.

Uses through History

- Etching was commonly used by goldsmiths and various other people who worked with metal, they used this process to decorate metal items. These items could have included armour, plates, cups and more. This technique is still used today as art as the outcome of the process is very effective and can create very appealing and aesthetically pleasing pieces of art.

- There is more control over the way text is formatted and arranged

- When the text is in a frame it can be changed to how you want with great precision in order to fit into the space that you want

- There are a large amount of templates available meaning someone who isn't experienced in this software can still create a professional looking outcome

Disadvantages

- It is complicated

- There may need to be additional hardware and software that needs to be brought

- Desktop publishing relies on electricity and computers if these failed then you wouldn't be able to use it

Skills & Knowledge required

- You would need to know how to use the software to get the most out of it and also have basic computing skills to be able to work a computer. If you wanted to use this software in a workplace then you would need to spend money in order to train people to be able to understand this software.

Costs

- This software if brought online would cost around £100 which is very pricey. Also if you wanted to use this software within an office or other workplace it would cost more money to train the employees up to use the new software.

Speed

- This software is digital and the speed would be determined how how fast the computer works, The speed would also be effected by how skilled the person using the software is, the more they knew about it the faster they would be able to work and find what they want within the software.

Technical Considerations

- You would need electricity, a computer and this the desktop publishing software

Uses through History

- Before this process newspapers and magazines had to be created with a large printing press. This process is used to produce brochures, posters, business cards and flyers. It is a relatively new process that hasn't been used for years and years.

- This method of printing is simplistic

- This method come without any risk of injury

- The Lino is easier to cut into than wood

Disadvantages

- Time consuming

- The materials needed for this process are expensive

-Costs alot to produce the finished products

Skills & knowledge required

- You would need to have some art and creative skills to be able to hand carve into the lino without any steciils r markings to follow. You would also need to know how to spread ink precisely and evenly along the board so the result is to a high quality standard.

Cost

- The cost to complete this method would be expensive because the speedball inks would cost (if brought online) around £25.00, a hand burnisher would cost around £15.00, a brayer would cost around £10.00 and a full set of linocut tools would cost around £93.00

Speed

- The speed of this process is slow because you have to hand carve out the design into the Lino which would be considerably time consuming and hard word. The method would take even longer if the design you desired had loads of small detail. However after the design has been carved out the actual time to print is minimal as just ink is rolled on and then printed onto paper.

Technical Considerations

- The materials that you need to complete this method are speedball inks, tape, a hand burnisher, a brayer, sponges and a linocut tool

Uses through History

- This technique was used for wallpaper printing, people started using this technique as an art form in the 1920's-30's however before this time, linocut was originally made to cover floors. Linocut is still used today in schools as an art form because of its simplicity and the risk of injury is minimal. Also this is a popular artform because nobody work can be copied as all the prints are unique, no print can be identical to another

- Sponges

- Potatoes

- A White T-Shirt

- Acrylic paint

- Pens

- A black marker pen

- A Thick nail

- A Paintbrush

- Paper plates

- Old news paper

- A Fork

- V-shapes knife or carving knifes

Process

Step 1: We sketched out our designs with a pencil using the internet for inspiration, in this step we found that some were too detailed and not suitable to carve out of the potato. We sketched out around 6 designs that all related to us, from the colour to the text or image, something had to represent us in some way.

Step 2: We then cut our potatoes in half making sure the surfaces were equal. If the potato's surface was slanted then the whole design and print would be ruined as when the potato is pressed onto the material only the more raised part of the design will be printed as appose to the whole design would be distorted.

Step 3: We dried the potato using tissue which would absorb the unwanted moisture. The water in the potato would negatively effect any ink that's applied to the potatoes surface. The outcome of the print wouldn't be to a professional standard if the ink is minimal in some places of the design due to the moist texture.

Step 4: We picked out the deigns that we wanted to pursue onto the potato. We began by drawing out the outline of the design onto the surface of the potato with a sharp pencil. This would act as the initial guide for the carving process .

Step 5: We carved out the design onto the potato using the pencil markings as a guide. I used scissors to start carving but realised that they couldn't achieve great precision or small detail so I decided to change to a sharp knife. This knife was able to smooth out the raised designs lines to make a clearer more polished finish.  I made sure to carve outwards away from my hands to reduce the risk of injury as the potato is moist the knife could of easily slipped and I could of sliced my finger. This process took the longest because the best results were the ones that I took the most time on.

Step 6: With another dab with the tissue to dry the moisture produced by carving the potato the paint was added with a paintbrush. The potato shouldn't be dried or tampered with too much or the design will get distorted. The paint should be evenly spread onto the surface, making sure there isn't a clump of paint which will distort the design, or having too little ink on a section would also ruin the outcome.

Step 7: We then printed the carved out potato design onto different materials, we printed on t-shirts, sheets and paper. All these materials absorbed the acrylic in different ways, for example to t-shirt fabric absorbed the acrylic paint more than the paper, also the paint seem to spread more on the fabrics.

Step 8: To change the colour of the paint on the potato a small amount of water could be applied to the surface and then wiped off with a tissue. We had to be careful not to apply too much water that it would damage the design especially if the desire was to create 2 or more identical prints which is what I wanted.

Step 9: The prints were then left to dry on the radiator which sped up the drying time due to the heat. It is important for the prints to dry properly because acrylic paint is easily smudged. 

Step 10: We then had to clear up all the equipment, wash all the paintbrushes, put all the potato carving left overs in the bin making sure nothing that could be used again was wasted to keep costs to the environment to a minimum.

These are the costs of the materials that we used:

-A nail (5p)

-1 t-shirt (£3.00)

-Sponges (99p)

-Acrylic paint (99p)

-Paper (1p)

-Potatoes (£2.00)

-Paper plates (50p each)

-Stanley knife (£2.99)

-Permanent marker (99p)

-A fork (£1.00)

-Carving knife (£6.99)

-Old newspaper (£2.00)

The cost of all the materials would come to £21.02 making this method is extremely low in cost and affordable for everyone. There are some really impressive results that can be achieved if you have the right amount of patience and artistic skills.

That would of been the price I would of had to pay if I didn't already have most of the equipment at my house. For example I already owned a fork, markers, potatoes, paper, acrylic paint, old newspaper and sponges. The things I had to go out and purchase were carving knifes, a t-shit, paper plates and a stanley knife meaning I only had to spend was 13.48.

Speed: The part of the process which took the most time was the carving the potato as the more time you took the better the outcome. Also this part took some time because if you carved too quickly the knife could slip and injure you or ruin the design. Thinking of the designs and drawing them onto paper also took a long time. It didn't take long for the acrylic paint to dry on the material with the heat of the radiator. Drawing out the design onto the potato also took some time as this was the guide for the carving stage, this drawing had to be clear and exact. Painting the potato's surface and printing onto the materials took little time to complete, however the carving of the potato and drawing still made this is lengthy process.

Advantages

- The materials needed for this process are cheap and very affordable

- The materials can be easily located

- The process if done right can produce some impressive results

- You can make lots of identical prints before the design on the potato distorts or shows ware

- The potato is soft and easily carved into

Disadvantages

- Carving the potato is time consuming

- The best results come from artistic people with drawing skills

- The process is frustrating so patience is key

- The use of materials such a sharp knives to cut creates risk to the use

- The potatoes are moist making it easy for the knife or carving tool to slip around

- You can't achieve great precision or small detail

How I felt about potato printing:

The part of the process I enjoyed the most was drawing out the initial designs and printing the final carved out potato onto the material, I am not a patient person and found the carving stage to be frustrating as the moisture of the potato made the knife slip about not allowing me to create detail or precision.

I felt that potato printing was relevant to the unit as it gave us the opportunity to get a hands on approach to another type of print based media. Instead of just researching the process online we got to experience exactly what is involved by physically completing the method.

However I was happy with the majority of my final prints and think they came out better than how I originally thought they would this is not a method I would not use to create my logo as it is frustrating time consuming and extremely hard to create fine detail or precision.