• Mezzotints have soft tonalities ranging from gray to black. The entire surface of the plate is roughened by a spiked tool called a rocker. If inked, the plate would print in solid black. Therefore, the artist burnishes out areas so that they do not hold ink, yielding the mezzotint's modulated tones.

• Etching begins with a metal plate (usually copper) coated with a waxy substance called a "ground." The artist creates the composition by drawing through the ground to expose the metal. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath, which "bites" or chemically dissolves the exposed lines. For printing, the ground is removed, ink is introduced into the incised lines, and the plate is wiped clean and run through a press under great pressure in order to force the paper into the lines.

• Aquatint is an etching process concerned with tone rather than line. For this technique, a metal plate is covered, in defined areas, with particles of acid-resistant material, such as resin, around and heated to make the particles stick. The treated plate is then placed in an acid bath, which bites into the copper that is exposed between grains of resin, yielding a composition marked by texture and tone.

Lithography

The artist uses a greasy medium such as crayon or tusche to create a composition on a stone or metal plate. The surface is then dampened with water, which is repelled by the greasy areas, absorbed only by the sections of the plate that have not been marked by the artist. Printer's ink is then applied to the plate with a roller. This, in turn, sticks only to the greasy sections, as the water protects the rest of the plate. The stone or plate is then covered with paper and run through a press to create the print.

Screenprinting

An image that has been cut out of a material such as paper or fabric is attached to a piece of tautly stretched mesh. Paint is then forced through the mesh-or screen-onto a sheet of paper below by means of a squeegee. The uncovered areas of the screen allows the paint to pass through, while the areas covered by the compositional shapes will not. For works with more than one color, a separate screen is required for each color.

Monotype and monoprint

Monotypes or monoprints (the words are used interchangeably) are prints of a single impression. The artist creates a composition on a smooth surface, which is then covered with dampened paper and run through a printing press or rubbed with the back of a spoon or with another tool.

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Information garnered from www.ku.edu/~sma/prints.html and www.coskunfineart.com