This is a continuation of our series on the history of Printing. We’ve already talked about the contributions of Gutenberg, etching, and mezzotint. Today we shine our spotlight on a literal rock star: lithography.

Lithography is the process of creating an image on Stone or metal, then transferring that image to paper. On a fundamental level it works on the principle that oil and water repel each other. An oil base ink is applied to the portion of the stone the artist wants to display as dark, while a water based solution is placed on the rest of the stone.

The process of treating the stone is a fascinating one, requiring a substantial amount of work, reapplying inks, oils, and solutions until the image is fairly well absorbed into the stone itself. After that a moist piece of paper is draped over the top, pressed down, and the image is transferred.

The technique was invented by a German actor named Johannes Alois Senefelder in the late 1700s as a cheap way of reproducing theatre scripts. Lithography, as with many other German-inspired printing innovations, made printing cheaper and more efficient, particularly in the production of newspapers.  Unlike many of his print-innovating forbears, Senefelder  lived to see the wider implementation of his printing method. There is a Berlin U-Bahn station named for Senefelder to this day.

Printing via the hydrophobic (water-repelling) and hydrophilic (water-retaining)principles is still done today. Modern Printing Techniques used at Prolab Digital still employ chemical processes that cause the ink to remain in one section of a given print using oil and water. Off-set printing is a method where the image is transferred to a large rubber roller or “blanket” that retains the image and transfers it to the medium required. This roller is treated with oil and water based emulsions, not unlike the original lithographic stones were hundreds of years ago.

You can watch a video explaining the principles and techniques of lithography here:

For more information about the modern printing techniques used by Prolab Digital please visit our website prolabdigital.com. To learn more about how we can put our modern photo lab to work for you please contact us.