Pull back the corner of the paper to reveal your etching print. Run the plate and paper through the press at an even speed. Place the prepared etched plate onto a printing press and place dampened water on top of it. Once the plate is covered, gently wipe away the excess ink with cheese cloth or newspaper. This is best achieved by using a card to work the ink into the grooves of the plate. Remove the plate from the acid and remove the ground with acetone or paint thinner. Wipe the bubbles away with a soft brush or a feather. As the acid 'bites' into the surface, bubbles may be produced. The strength of the acid will determine the length of time that the plate will need to sit in the acid. Drop the prepared plate into the acid bath to allow the acid to 'bite' into the plate. Once you have scratched out your image, you will need to gather your acid supplies. Be sure to have eye protection and gloves. You will be removing areas of the ground in this process. The areas that you remove will be the areas that accept the ink during printing.

When the ground is dry, you may use sharp tools to scratch into the ground. You may add the solution to the plate with a brush. Next, the ground solution is added to the surface. In the demonstration video below, I am using a zinc plate. The plates used for etching are usually made of copper or zinc. You may choose to bevel the edges of the plate so that it will not tear the paper or damage the press. The process begins by preparing the plate for the ground material. This makes etching different from engraving. With engraving, the incisions are made by scratching directly into the plate without the aid of an acid 'bite'. Intaglio prints can easily be identified by the embossing that occurs around the printed image on the printing paper.Įtching in particular uses acid to 'bite' into the metal surface. A general term for metal-plate printmaking techniques, including etching, drypoint, engraving, aquatint, and mezzotint.

The ink is pulled up onto the moist paper, producing the print. Moist paper is placed on top of the prepared plate and ran through a press with the proper pressure. This allows ink to be left in the incisions.

This is different from relief printmaking, where the image to be printed is raised from the surface. With intaglio printmaking techniques, printing is achieved by adding ink to the plate (matrix), then gently wiping away excess ink from the surface. In all of these processes, the image to be printed is incised into the surface or plate. Etching is a form of intaglio printmaking. Intaglio printmaking includes etching, engraving, drypoint and aquatint.

Intaglio printing press