Prints in the Art World come in many forms.
To be considered a Work of Art, rather than a mass-produced product, a print must be limited to a run of no more than 150. Prints are numbered to show how they fit into the total. e.g. 24/50 means this is number 24 of what will be a total of 50.
The smaller the total to be printed, the more sought after they become. In some cases a print may even be “One of a Kind” meaning there will only ever be 1.
Some prints are made by hand, for example lino prints. A piece of lino is gauged into by sharp tools, the surface rolled over with ink and an impression taken on paper. In this case, the numbering is important because later prints will be less like the original due t wear of the plate. Wood block prints are similar.
Screen prints are also man-made. Ink is forced through a fine mesh onto paper, but some of the mesh is blocked with a stencil or some other material so that some of the paper receives no ink. Left to dry, the process can be continued with a different colour and different stencils. Like lino prints, quality tends to reduce with each print taken.
Kath Edwards
Patterns of Nature #4 Murmuration
Yet another form of man-made print is a monotype. The artist cannot produce more than one of each image, because ink or paint is spread across a metal or glass plate, drawn into and an impression is taken on paper. This can only be done once, before adding more colour and drawing again – hence “One of a Kind”.
Stanislav Bojankov
Presentiment-XV
Some prints are produced digitally, so that nothing exists in a physical form until printed on paper, card or canvas. Although these must still be numbered, the last is just as good as the first. Some artists “draw” on a computer tablet, save and then print. Others use their own photos as a starting point.
Sally Maltby
Sunflowers - front and back
Vinci Art
A to Z Airports Codes Around the World 2018
The vast majority of prints on this site, however, are reproductions of original artworks using the giclee process. This is similar to ink-jet printing but the quality of ink and paper means the print keeps its original colour over time. These prints will always be cheaper than the original, which may in any case have been sold already.
Richard FA White
River Dove Derbyshire
Anna Spencer
Ladybird Happy Girl
samantha biddle
Rupert the Horse - Limited Edition Canvas Print
Don’t forget, the prints for sale in Big Stores will have been produced thousands of times.