Glenn Tomkinson Printmaker
Limited Editions
Etching and aquatint can be used to produce over 100 prints if
required and some artists will employ professional printmakers to
make their editions. Other printmakers prefer to undertake the
whole process themselves in which case the editions are usually
much smaller. The number of the edition is usually pencilled below
the corner of the print so 4/20 would denote the 4th print in a
series of 20. In large editions, the quality of the print will
deteriorate so that the early prints are considered superior. In an
edition of 20 this is not significant.
Prints which are taken before the final state of the plate or which
are experimental are known as "artists proofs" sometimes market AP
or P in the corner
A Professional printmaker will aim to make each print identical but
I am afraid that I would get rather bored doing 20 prints all the
same so I usually make small changes to the inking process for each
print so no two are exactly the same.
Many so-called limited edition prints are simply
reproductions of paintings produced digitally with no input from
the artist. These are often huge editions of several hundred and
should not be confused with a limited edition produced in a
traditional manner by the artist himself.
Staffa
Aquatint