Printed Histories

Etching Techniques

Dry point
Dry point is the most direct of all Intaglio techniques. A sharp dry point needle and a metal plate are all materials required. The image is produced by scoring the metal surface with a sharp needle to create a burr. When the burr is new, the print is rich, dark black, but when the burr starts to break down the plate image became greyer and loses its character, because it holds less ink.

Hard ground
Using a prepared degreased plate, the plate is ready to apply a hard ground coat to protect the plate surface. The hard ground liquid is a mixture of asphaltum, bee wax, rosin, and solvent. Wherever the artist scratches line or textures into the ground, the acid will bite with clear definition. The longer the plate is left in the acid, the deeper the open line will become, making them print heavier and increasing the strength or darkness of the print.

Aquatint
The process of aquatint should be mastered by every printmaker who intends to do serious work in etching. The wide variety of greys, ranging from delicate and, light washes to rich, deep blacks. The principle of aquatint is simple. Tiny droplets or particles of acid resistant material are dusted or enamel sprayed on to the surface of the plate. The material should cover about 50 percent of the surface, and if it is rosin, the plate should be heated to bind the rosin to the plate. The plate is then placed into the acid bath once cooled for the correct time determining the shade of aquatint.

Soft ground
The traditional use of soft ground is to replicate the quality of a drawing through a thin sheet of tracing paper. Because the ground remains sensitive to the touch even after it is dry, handle the plate with care. Textured fabrics, found organic objects may be pressed into the soft ground plate with a hard roller or carefully sandwiched through the printing press. Anything can be used to make an impression as long as it is not too thick. Once an impression has been made and there are unwonted areas that you don’t want bitten, stop them out with ground or asphaltum before you immersing the plate into the acid.

Sugar lift or lift ground technique
This process enables to use of the intaglio plate for the liveliest, brushed lines or mass that can produce. It is a direct process; if we painted a black line on the plate we get a black line on the print. There are several formulas that work well, often made with sugar syrups, gum Arabic, Indian ink and detergents. When the drawing is dry, apply a thin coat of liquid hard ground evenly over the entire plate and let it dry thoroughly. Once the plate is completely dry, we then place the plate into a water tray and pour hot water over the plate. The lift ground solution will dissolve slowly, leaving the plate exposed where painted. Then the plate is ready for aquatinting.

Mezzotint process
Mezzotint is actually a dry point method. As the mezzotint rocker digs into the surface of the plate, creating multiple teeth burrs. Rocking a plate can take hours because the plate must be rocked every direction. When the plate is rocked to completion, it will print as a solid velvety black. The image is then created by scraping and burnishing on the rough surface of the mezzotint.

Printing techniques- Colour Chine Colle
In this method place thin pieces of colour or natural tissue paper, cut or torn to the desired shape onto the position of your plate. Then glue the paper faces up with watered down wallpaper paste and prints the image with one roll through the press.
The procedure for chine colle is simple, but it must be done without wasting time at the critical point of gluing. The most common tissue papers used are Japanese/ washi papers as the paper adhere beautifully because of there natural properties. Cheap bright colour tissue may run while being rolled through the press, while against damp paper.
A la poupee is a basic technique where more than one colour can be applied to one plate.

Colour Roll Up or Mono Printing
With any print technique this is a process that has no limitations. Colour roll ups are often used for soft colour backgrounds to draw attention to the print image and to add interest to the finished work. The colour roll up could have two shades of colour bleeding together or areas of colour could be arranged by using stencil cut outs. The colour roll up could be achieved in two ways one by using a separate plate the same size as your etched one or rolled up onto a well bitten etching, so that there is no unwonted bleeding.
Mono printing a basic, simple and effective technique using a thin application of ink rolled up onto any flat or textured surface giving you an even first colour or back ground texture to your printed image. A technique that can be created by fabric patterns and or built up paper materials glued or vanished to allow the ink to sit on the smooth surface.

Lithography
This method of printing is either made from a metal or stone surface on which the printing areas are made ink receptive, achieved by an oil to water resistance. The beauty of lithography is in the quality of the mark, from a drawn line to a photographic image can be achieved giving an overall soft and tonal quality, quite distinctive to other print processes. Out of all the print processes lithography would be the most demanding and very labour intensive in the stone preparation and printing process. The stone must be level to ensure accurate printing using a number of carborundum grids applied to achieve a smooth and level surface by a levigator girder. Once your drawing is complete using greasy crayons or litho pencils the stone drawing is then sealed with chalk powder or talc to contain the greasy materials. The stone is then ready for its first etch a mixture of Nitric acid and gum Arabic is applied suitable to the amount of grease on the surface. The second etch, the stone is opened up and the removal of drawing materials with turpentine are replaced with asphaltum and or ink rubbed into the drawn area to sustain the image through the second etch process, the etch being slightly stronger than the first. The stone is closed and buffed down neat with cheese cloth ready to be re opened for proofing. The opening of the stone ready for proofing is similar to the process of etching, turpentine is used to remove the inked image then replaced with asphaltum the stone is then washed down with water removing the gum Arabic and exposing the greasy drawing, keeping the stone wet at all times, sponging between each roll up. Lithography printing ink is then rolled up onto the stone surface gradually making the image richer in ink as you proof the stone. Once the stone has reached its full potential in tonal quality the stone is ready for editioning.