Siligraphic Vitreography: The New Lithography

[@femkevandelft177]

Canadian here. What a gem the KZbin algorithm sent this morning. Just what I needed to jumpstart making. Thank you so much.

[@BillRitchie]

That makes my day!

[@femkevandelft177]

@@BillRitchie Mine too. Might have to draw the antiquated diverter in my bath cuz I am using the same silicon

[@malcolmthompson9848]

A less hazardous way of cleaning oil-based litho and etching inks is with vegetable oil (the same stuff you cook with) followed by Simple Green cleaner to remove the vegetable oil residue. Use old t-shirt rags torn into 4" squares. Two should do it.

[@StellanSchedin]

If I'm going to make any lithograph in the future, it will have to be from stone. That's the only thing I can do. It was so medidativ to grind the stones and grain them. After taking a long break in my artistry, I will return to copper engraving the burin method. Thank you for showing the lithograph variant. I Wish you a Happy New and successful Year. Stellan

[@BillRitchie]

I agree, I loved the drawing on stone, slow, meditative, and a faint resonance, a ringing sound coming from the contact of litho pencil and stone. Highly absorbing. When I made the demonstration plate, I was surprised how graining the glass - even this small plate - took me back to when I COULD make a lithograph. Then came the drawing, and after that I told people I heard the same, soft, barely audible sound I heard many years ago. Processing and printing the plate was different, being waterless, but I did not need gum arabic, acid, talc, etc. Finally, I could print on a roller press instead of a litho press with its greasy tympan, scraper bar, etc. My friend, Reka, will - like thousands of others who aspire to draw a lithograph - never have access to it; but with this "new lithography," she may. That is my hope. For me, it's over, and I'm happy to have been able to do it. For Reka - and even children (my current focus) there is hope. I understand, Stellan my friend in Sweden, what you are saying. Now I am wondering, "Could this be done on your Legacy Mini Halfwood Press No. 70?" Yes, it could!

[@oldreprobate2748]

Most generous Bill.

[@BillRitchie]

I'm glad you think so - you old probate : )

[@TheOldGuyPhil]

Just found your channel. Looking forward to seeing more. I would have loved more narration about what the process is. If I understand correctly, you are putting a water dissoluble medium on roughened glass, applied then removed with a dry rag??, removed how much??, would a squeegee work for removal??, cured the silicone then removed the water soluble medium leaving a relief area to hold the ink???? How about discussing more of what can be done with, or by modifying the process. You are really a wealth of knowledge and I.m fascinate to learn more. God bless your health, and bless you with Faith.

[@BillRitchie]

Not putting you off, but the best source is Harvey Littleton, who invented it. It's like stone lithography, where we use water soluble gum arabic over a grease-containing drawing medium, wiped down so thinly and dried that, when solvent removed the original drawing medium, it left a clean stone (in the vitreography method) or glass surface image which, when oil-based ink was rolled over it, held the image which then was printed on paper. Some people explain that it's a stencil method, the gum (or in siligraphy, silicone) surrounding the original traces of the drawn image.

[@InAHollowTree]

This is excellent, I can see all types of cool large projects with this,! I’ve only done metal and vinyl linoleum prints before. This was a very clever use of materials. By the way though, just wanted to mention a typo of what you were using so folks don’t get confused: silicone, not silicon.

[@BillRitchie]

Aaarggh! That typo you pointed out is a bad one. I made the mistake in the original in 2011. If ever I have an opportunity to re-edit the video, it can be fixed. But I never will, so I'll have hope people will figure it out from the tube of silicone I'm squeezing it out of. Hopefully, no one will try to buy some silicon. Cost is about $300/100 grams. Hmm. I've heard there's a valley of it in California, around San Jose, where I made my first lithgraphs. Thanks for the heads-up and I'm glad you like the rest of it, InAHollowTree. : ) - Bill

[@MannyEspinola-q4t]

Thank you for this video

[@BillRitchie]

You are welcome, MannyEspinola. - Bill

[@lawrieyoutube4375]

Thanks for putting this up. I notice that after inking the plate he did not wipe the plate to remove the excess ink from the non-printing area. Do you know if this was intentional, or just a gap in the filming process? My art school, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art, Australia still had lithographic presses and all manner of traditional printing processes in a well equipped Printing department, 2023. The equipment was often very old having been acquired as redundant from government departments or big commercial print houses. The presses were rare, huge and in superb operating condition. As a student I had full continuing access after completing a printing course as part of my visual arts degree. After graduating, I have no access. I know that the printmaking rooms were popular with students exploring contemporary themes using traditional processes. The problem was finding the time to pursue it with all the demands of other studies. I have seen students working happily late into the night using the presses and associated facilities like vacuum hoods for chemicals etc. I know the academics are fighting to keep the print department open with all the cuts to higher education. Maybe allowing access on a fee basis to past graduates would be a solution. They were also struggling to keep the photography dark rooms open. Small minded bureaucratic thinking is a major enemy of art IMO. If I could justify the price of a halfway decent A3 roller press I would get one. And had somewhere to put it. Cheers

[@BillRitchie]

Greetings from Seattle. As for the excess ink, there was none to wipe off. This is dry lithography. Maybe that's why. At 10:51 seconds, I made a couple swipes on the hardboard, but now I don't know how any ink got there. Hmmm. As for trends in hand-printmaking, it's a lovely medium, but like all pleasurable pastimes we learn in art school, there is a price to pay. I believe the true cost of printmaking is never taught by printmaking teachers because we (I taught it for 20 years at the UW/Seattle) need students to keep our jobs, security, retirement, and, frequently, we can't afford our own studio. We need the school's facility to make our art, keep our jobs by showing our art and winning prizes, and the awe of the students we need to populate and justify the studio. Fewer than 1% of students who graduate will be able to continue after graduation on their own and make a living wage. It's best to regard printmaking as a hobby and be happy. Many people take up expensive hobbies like restoring antique cars or surfing. Approached this way you might find kindred spirits and open a cooperative. I visited the Melbourne shop in 1983, and it survived on government subsidies and whatever the artists could put in. Co-ops are best way to go after graduation because only the director and the board are getting paid, and only if they earn it and are not in it for themselves. Then there was the Australian Print Council doing its part. In these times a few talented and business-savvy souls (Bridget Farmer comes to mind) will manage. The reason small minded bc thinking rules over artists (but not art) is because of technology. It's ironic, because print is the historic ancestor of all technology, science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM). Now, having been enlightened old professors like me, freed of institutional thinking just in time, we can add reading and writing, the arts, and numeracy. It's never too late to relearn. And, yes, a roller press works well for siligraphic vitreography. I'm advocating for someone - and it may happen in Australia - to start a business manufacturing ground glass plates to artists and providing printing services to them. This would provide the artrepreneurs a press they need for the business and for themselves. If a person is as creative as they think they are, they could do this - in a partnership or cooperative venture, that is. Not alone. - Bill

[@lawrieyoutube4375]

@@BillRitchie Brilliant reply, Thanks. I agree with all your observations. It is hard to make a living by it, unless you become a darling of the New York gallery scene. I agree about co-ops but they are out of favour in the current financialist Zeitgeist. Bridget Farmer is indeed an example of success. This exchange makes me I feel I am right back in the classroom. I graduated with distinction in 2023 at age 74 after ten years part-time. (I am a carer for my wife) I loved the academic work, and learning to research properly and write academically. I had very broken schooling in childhood due to illness and no proper education with some bad experiences with educators. Most of my youth, and up to about age forty, I was treated as an idiot and often told I was 'retarded'. Starting and running my own successful small businesses turned that around. I even did some stints teaching apprentices at trade college, but I still had something to prove to myself. It was quite an emotional risk going back into an educational institution. Despite being pretty quiet with old-fashioned manners I had a few run-ins wih the odd tutor or two who lacked my life experience (much to their shock). I majored in photographic art, and finished with a GPA of 6.9. So yes, it's a retirement interest to do, but all the art theory and history drummed into me taught that art must add to culture or it isn't art. That sounds pompous but it is a driver against mediocrity I suppose. The beautiful thing about printmaking, in my opinion, is the way it can synthesise art and artisanry. The process itself is extremely satisfying. A good arts degree is indeed very undervalued. Sorry to babble on but it is so nice to chat about art again. I have some glass in the shed, Hmmmm. Cheers, Lawrie.

[@lawrieyoutube4375]

@@BillRitchie PS. I admire very much your archive. Such projects are enormously valuable to society. Sadly, most folk think, mistakingly, that the internet is forever. In reality, content costs money to keep on the server and stays there only so long as it suits the corporation to allow it to remain. It is a form of a privatisation of knowledge. It can be deleted forever with a keystroke without notice or accountability.

[@BillRitchie]

@@lawrieyoutube4375 this is the loveliest story I've read in years, and your wife is fortunate for your presence. I am reminded of yet another Aussie, Raymond James, in NSW. We had good exchanges, too. He's in the Halfwood Press Encylcopedia, too. It's a flipbook, free, on my website, emeraldaworks.com.

[@BillRitchie]

@@lawrieyoutube4375 One path to try is kids, so I'm role-playing a kid lookong for playmates.

[@f0xygem]

You're drawing of "The End of the Emeralda" immediately made me think of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. Every time I hear that song, I have to cry. Since both ships began with "E", perhaps, just to be on the safe side, it's a good idea not to name a ship beginning with the letter "E". Just sayin'. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKbdhZ59rt2ej6ssi=Bth8OlH0NJ4MYFf1

[@BillRitchie]

That song by Lightfoot always gets me, and as you know it's a true story. Mine is not, but it's my mystery ship, a long (like thirty years and going on) story I wrote a ballad for and in unending variations mostly around my etching presses, the Halfwoods. If you care to read the ballad, it's www.amazon.com/Vladimirs-Song-Sketchbook-voyage-Emeralda/dp/B0DHVH224J. Thanks for catching this detail, fOxygem. - Bill

[@KpxUrz5745]

As an experienced stone lithographer, I do not like what I see here about this process on glass. I will stick with stone.

[@BillRitchie]

It's not for you. I loved stone litho, too, but can't afford it. Do us a favor and try it. It's easy, and see if there's any value in teaching it to kids. Who knows, it may help keep hand-drawn lithography - whether on lithograph limestone, marble, onyz, aluminum or zinc. My goal is to teach young kids and hobbyists appreciation for stone lithography by any means. I'd appreciate your help and suggestions. - Bill

[@NOLAART]

Good grief I don't think so.

[@BillRitchie]

I know.