etching on copper (a brief description)

I have drawn through an acid-resistant coating, called the ground. Only the drawn lines will become etched.

I lower a plate into a bath of ferric chloride, which corrodes the exposed areas of bare copper.

Every etched line is now a groove to hold ink. Rolling ink onto the plate, I then wipe the surface clean, while ink remains in the lines.

I place the inked plate on the press bed face up, then a sheet of fine paper, and then felt blankets. This stack is squeezed under pressure between steel rollers; the ink transfers to the paper. Adding to the image often means repetition of the entire procedure.

Etchings laid to dry on screens. Selected prints will be matted and framed under glass.

The etching – called an original print (because each is inked and printed by hand, unlike a photomechanical reproduction) –  has a distinctive look: a characteristic line quality; ink raised above the paper; embossing by the plate; a lesser or greater plate tone from the film of ink remaining on the copper surface.