All my print graphics work since 1980 has used the etching technique. Originally the name referred only to dry point etching, but today every manual form of copper plate printing is referred to as an etching. Dry point etching is the original, manual form of lntaglio, a technique by which the image is engraved into the surface of a hard metal plate.
In the printing process these indentations are filled with ink, which is transferred under high pressure onto paper that has been softened by moistening with water. The material from which the plates are made is usually 1-2mm thick polished copper, but zinc, steel, brass and plexiglass are also used. In my work I use different etching techniques in combination, described as follows.
Line etching (etching, Eau-Forte) is the oldest of all techniques. After the plate has been covered with a thin acid-proof layer, the drawing is scraped with a needle so that the metal is exposed through the lines. After covering the back, the plate is placed in an acid bath which deepens the lines proportional to the etching time and acid strength.
In Mezzotint etching, also called the scraping technique, the plate is first pitted by cutting with a rocker, a rounded serrated tool, until an even dark area is created on the print. The cuts are made in parallel and very close together, the second cutting pass is staggered slightly on the diagonal, the third even more, and so on, until after days of serration the surface of the plate is evenly roughened. With scraping and burnishing tools these pits and burrs are scraped off and smoothed out, and will appear in the dark surface as lighter half tones.
The same principle applies to the scraped Aquatint, which therefore is often called the scraping technique. The difference is that the pitting of the plate is created by etching, called Aquatint. The plate is covered with melted resin, and the acid creates tiny wormlike holes between the grains, which depending on the etching time and grain size leave different shades of grey to black on the print. Lighter tones can be achieved with a scraper and burnisher. Mezzotint and scraped Aquatint are therefore in the final result so similar that the difference can only be seen by using a strong magnifying glass, through which the indentations of the
rocker or the worm holes of the Aquatint can be seen.
Dry Point describes direct work on a plate with a sharpened needle or other tool. Another “cold” procedure is work with a Roulette, or toothed wheel, which depending on width and grain will cause fine or rough cuts on the plate. Both techniques are used to deepen half tones.
Vernis mou is an etching technique named because of the use of a soft acid resist. Drawing with a pencil on paper covering the sticky soft layer, lines with a crayon like appearance are created. Diverse materials can be pressed into the soft base to create any type of structure. This etching process requires enormous delicacy of the fingers.