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Family
Paper
Ink
Skill
28 / 28
0
0964
Relief
c. 200 CE

Woodblock Printing

The oldest method of printing on paper.

1237
Relief
1040 / 1440

Letterpress (Movable Type)

Gutenberg's revolution—still alive in fine press shops.

1195
Planographic
1796

Lithography

Drawing with grease on stone.

0738
Intaglio
c. 1500

Etching

Acid bites the line that ink fills.

0961
Intaglio
c. 1430

Copperplate Engraving

Pure line, cut by hand into metal.

1197
Stencil
1910s

Screen Printing (Silkscreen)

Ink pushed through a stencilled mesh.

0647
Planographic
1875

Offset Lithography

The workhorse of commercial print.

0645
Digital
1976

Inkjet (Giclée)

Microscopic droplets, jetted on demand.

0535
Digital
1938 / 1969

Laser / Xerography

Static electricity, toner powder, fuser heat.

0975
Stencil
1986

Risograph

Digital duplicator turned cult art tool.

0988
Photographic
1842

Cyanotype

Blueprints made of sun and iron salts.

1038
Photographic
1834

Salt Print

The earliest paper photograph.

0874
Photographic
1873

Platinum / Palladium

The most permanent photograph ever made.

1428
Photographic
1855

Gum Bichromate

Pigment, gum, and dichromate—painterly photography.

0987
Photographic
1855

Collotype

Continuous-tone printing without halftone dots.

1065
Stencil
1876

Mimeograph

The classroom and samizdat duplicator.

0988
Alternative
1842

Anthotype

Photographs made from crushed flowers.

1091
Alternative
c. 1850

Chine-collé

Bonding tissue paper to a print as it's pressed.

1047
Alternative
Ancient

Wax Resist / Encaustic

Hot wax used to mask paper before staining.

1306
Alternative
1930s

Thermography

Raised, glossy ink—the business-card classic.

1020
Relief
1892

Foil Stamping

Metallic leaf pressed into paper with heat.

1215
Relief
15th c.

Blind Embossing

Paper sculpted by pressure alone.

1014
Digital
1990s

UV Inkjet

Ink that solidifies under ultraviolet light.

0732
Alternative
Experimental

Layered Paper Pulp Printing

Paper that's printed as it's formed.

1142
Relief
1937

TGP Political Linocut

Mexico City's people's printshop.

0633
Relief
c. 1900

Xilogravura de Cordel

Brazil's chapbook woodcut tradition.

1090
Stencil
19th century

Adire Eleko

Yoruba cassava-paste resist on indigo cloth.

1625
Stencil
1959

ICAIC Cinema Silkscreen

Cuba's hand-pulled film posters.