Intaglio

The intaglio technique is the process of incising lines into a plate such as copper, zinc or perspex. These lower areas hold the ink, which then creates the print.

Intaglio has a variety of techniques: etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint and mezzotint, which create differing effects and which can be combined to create the image.

Working on the Plate

To start making an etching on a copper plate, a liquid called ‘hard ground’ is applied. This provides a thin coat on the plate, which sets hard. This enables drawing with an etching needle onto the plate, which exposes the copper. This method results in an image with fine lines.

An alternative, more painterly method is to apply an acid resistant paint with a brush and to create areas of tone in the area that are exposed. This can be achieved through a process called aquatint, in which a fine resin powder is applied and heated onto the plate, allowing for a fine tone to be etched onto the plate in a ferric chloride solution.

Etching the Plate

Once the drawing is complete, the plate is placed into a shallow bath of ferric chloride solution for a number of minutes. This will etch the exposed drawn areas.

The plate is then removed and rinsed with water. The ground is also removed and the etched image can then be seen on the plate.

Printing the Plate

Once etched, the plate is ready for inking up. Ink is applied to the whole plate with an applicator. It is then wiped back with a tarlatan (cheesecloth). A tarlatan, tissue paper or hand wiping or a combination of all can be used to wipe the plate back. Gradually, the surface of the plate becomes clean again but the ink will remain in the lower areas that have been etched.

European cotton rag paper is used for printing intaglio. This is a heavy weight paper and needs to be soaked in a bath of water. Once removed from the water, the papers can be wrapped in a plastic sheet over night to achieve a nicely dampened paper the next day for printing.

Etching plates are printed on an etching press, which has a heavy roller and a bed. The plate is positioned on the bed of the press and the dampened paper is placed on top of the plate.  There are etching blankets between the roller and the paper and plate to provide cushioning and to push the paper into the etched areas so that the ink can be picked up onto the paper when it runs through the press under the roller.

After Printing

Once the print has been pulled from the press, the paper is still damp so the print needs to be flattened and dried between boards under a heavy weight for several days.

The process of inking up and wiping the plate has to be repeated for each individual print.

Each print in this intaglio process will be numbered in pencil in the lower left hand corner. For example, a limited edition of 20 would be numbered 1/20, 2/20 and so on. Each of these prints is of equal quality and they are original limited editioned prints.