Monoprinting

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Monoprinting (not to be confused with monotyping) is a form of printmaking that has images or lines that cannot exactly be reproduced. There are many techniques of mono printing, including collage, hand-painted additions, and a form of tracing by which thick ink is laid down on a table, paper is placed on top and is then drawn on, transfering the ink onto the paper. Monoprints are can also be made by altering the type, color, and pressure of the ink used to create different prints. Examples of standard printmaking techniques which can be used to make monoprints include lithography, woodcut, and etching.

The difference between monoprinting and monotyping is that monoprinting has a matrix that can be reused, but not to produce an identical result. With monotyping there are no permanent marks on the matrix, and at most two impression (copies) can be obtained.

Monoprints are known as the most painterly method among the printmaking techniques, a monoprint is often regarded as a non-editionable kind of print and is essentially a printed painting. The characteristic of this method is that no two prints are alike. The beauty of this media is also in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking, painting and drawing mediums. ^[1]

Monoprinting has been used by many artists, among them Georg Baselitz, Tracy Emin. Some old master prints, like etchings by Rembrandt with individual manipulation of ink as "surface tone", or hand-painted etchings by Degas (usually called monotypes in fact) might be classifiable as monoprints, but they are rarely so described.