Lithography was introduced at the Kinngait Studios in the early 1970’s, and has become an important adjunct to the print program. Unlike stonecuts and etchings, hand lithography requires no cutting of the surface from which the prints are made. Instead the design is simply drawn on the surface of a piece of limestone or aluminum plate. The drawing is done with grease pencils or with a greasy liquid, which is then inked with a grease-based ink. The clear portions of the stone or plate are covered with a thin film of water, which repels the greasy ink, thereby confining the ink to the area already defined by the original grease-based drawing. Any colour of ink can be rolled onto an image, although multi-colour prints generally require a separate stone or plate for each colour.

Under tremendous pressure, the entire sandwich of inked stone or plate, paper and tympan (protective covering) is cranked by hand through a press. The background image transfers to the paper.

CHINE COLLÉ

In recent years, several lithographs have included the application of chine collé. This technique involves pressing a thin sheet of sized oriental paper to a heavier backing sheet and printing both at the same time, adding another dimension of colour and texture to the final image.