Thursday, November 06, 2008

Etching/aquatint

'Coffee pot'
This is an etching with aquatint. An etching is made by drawing on a metal plate - in this case, a zinc plate. Aquatints are nothing to do with aquarelle. Instead it is the process of applying a haze of dots to a metal surface and then dunking it in an acid bath. The acid eats away around the dots. The longer you leave it in the acid (with re-applications of the haze of dots)the deeper it eats into the metal and, when you ink the plate, the darker the image. (More at artsmitten.com)

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