Engraving is a 500-year-old printing process using metal sheets and acid to create an image. The artist draws the image on a wax-coated plate, which is then immersed in an acid bath. The plate is inked and printed using a press. More complex engravings can be made by adding layers or colors and using different techniques to create different textures and tones.
Engraving is a printing process that dates back 500 years. These are sheets of metal, usually copper or zinc, and acid used to etch the print onto the metal. The artist may use complicated methods to create different effects but always relies on acid to create an image on the plate. The more complicated the image, the more time consuming and expensive it will be.
To begin an engraving, an artist must first coat a white copper plate in wax. Using a steel needle, he draws his intended image through the wax and onto the metal. The metal is then immersed in an acid bath and left for approximately two hours. The acid will eat away at the copper that has been exposed by the needle to leave gouges, marks and textures in the metal.
The plate is then taken out of the acid bath and the wax is cleaned off, leaving a shiny copper plate with the image engraved on it. This can be repeated over and over again by re-applying the wax to the plate. With rewaxing, the artist can add layers or more complicated images to the original drawing, then put it back in the acid bath once she’s happy with the image she has.
The next stage of the process is to apply printing ink in the lines of the plate. Once the plate is wiped clean again with a stiff cloth, it will leave ink in the lines and grooves. The inked plate is then placed in a manual press with two heavy rollers and the wet paper is placed on top of the plate and squeezed through the rollers using great pressure.
When the paper is carefully removed, the image will print on it. People can always tell a genuine engraving because the edges of the plate will leave an indentation in the paper. If an artist wants to make another print, he simply puts more ink on the plate, cleans it up, and then puts it back through the rollers with another piece of paper. The end result is the simplest form of engraving.
There are more complicated ways to create more complex engravings using a number of different plates and colours. There is also a process for adding different tones to the image which involves adding resin powder to the plate and heating it. The result looks like fine sandpaper and the artist just paints the plate where he doesn’t want this texture. When he puts it in the acid bath, the acid eats away at the resin powder to give a consistency that holds the ink. The longer the dish is left in the acid, the darker the tones will be.
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