I have made a few lithographs. It is a fascinating process, the artist draws or paints a special ink on a smooth limestone surface, then gum is poured on the stone which the inked area repels, after which acid is applied to the stone’s surface, the acid eats the areas where the ink is exposed. After right amount of time for the acid to do its work, then the stoned is washed clean of the ink and gum only leaving the stone with it’s etched surface. Thereafter, the wet stone is rolled with printing ink, and the opposite happens, the ink is drawn into the etched areas leaving the blank areas alone. Then I good printing paper, mine are all Rives BFK paper, is gently placed on the stone’s surface and then rolled through a printing press. For each color in the lithograph is done on separate stone, 4 colors=4 stones. The most I done is four colors, very complicated and fun.
An interesting thing is that the drawing on the stone(s) is defaced after the printing process leaving the only the final prints as the originals.
