Paul Flora techniques
1. Original artwork:
Unique copy, drawn by hand, partially colored with colored pencils or watercolors. There is only one copy, apart from possibly similar variations on the theme.
1.1. Pen and ink drawing:
Drawn with a pointed quill, in Flora’s case pointed quills whose production has ceased (making forgeries easier to spot), on handmade, specially colored papers.
1.2. Pencil drawing:
Drawn in pencil on the same papers, this genus being very rare in Flora.
Examples of originals (drawings of Flora) from the online store:
2. printmaking:
Limited edition printing in small numbers, usually at Paul Flora to a maximum of 200 copies. The individual prints are numbered (e.g. 1/200 to 200/200) and signed by the artist. The plates are usually destroyed in the printmaking process (in etching, the plate is coated = devalued by two scratches; in lithography, the stone is ground off). Later prints are so-called pirated prints and forbidden (Dali, Picasso…), but are relatively easy to discover, because there are then in any case 2 prints with the same number!
2.1. Etching (copperplate engraving)
is scratched onto copper plate with a burin (drypoint etching) or covered with a layer of tar and etched after scratching (etching). The latter technique is easier for the artist to do. To ensure the quality until the last printing, the plate is sometimes stiffened. (With unsteeled plate, the burr breaks after about 50 prints and the quality deteriorates significantly).
2.2. Lithography
is drawn or painted on a stone plate (Greek: lithos=stone) and printed from it. Multiple colors also means multiple tiles, tiles on top of each other make a new color. The “zinc plate lithograph” is considered a variety, a misleading term, because here a zinc plate is processed in a very similar way, but it is printed by machine in a roll process and not by hand. The “offset lithograph”, on the other hand, is only a poster (see below)!
Examples of prints (etching, lithography, line etching) from the online store:
3. printing:
Image printed by the offset process, which basically allows unlimited editions (caution: often falsely called offset lithography to mislead!). Now and then numbered and signed for “refinement”, but such numbering and signature is only of theoretical value. Thus, “art print”, “art poster”, “offset print” and the like. the correct name for the technique. Of course, this process is also used for books, postcards, etc. Technically, offset printing has only the four basic colors (cyan, yellow, magenta, deep=black) and the dots lie next to each other in different intensities and result in the variety of color shades in the eye through mixing (cf. pointilism).
Special form: Preferred editions are printed works in the offset process, to which e.g. an etching, a lithograph or, in particularly bibliophile cases, an original is enclosed. These preferred editions are mostly cheaper than their individual components. (e.g.: Book “A Florilegium” € 22, – plus etching € 230, -, as a special edition at € 220, -)
Examples of prints (art posters, postcards, calendars) from the online store:
4. special features
In addition, specials and other products with the label Paul Flora are in circulation. For example, exclusive arts and crafts, in the form of high quality silver jewelry made not “by Paul Flora”, but according to motifs of the artist.
See more in the store: Exclusive arts and crafts by flora
5. attention: authenticity & fakes
Beware – not every source sells real “floras”. Anything offered at extremely low prices is most likely a fake or at least mislabeled. Read more: Authenticity & Fakes
