AQUATINT ETCHING EXPLAINED

The word 'etching' is derived from the word 'etzen' (to eat) and the image in an aquatint etching is

created by the image being 'eaten' or bitten into a copper or zinc plate.

The image is eaten with acid, in my case dilute nitric acid.

Areas that I wish to remain white or unbitten are painted out with 'stop out' which is a bitumen based acid resistant paint.

For example in one of my landscape etchings there may be a cow, I would paint around the cow with the stop out, not paint the cow. That is I work in reverse and in fact the image also is in reverse so if I wished to paint a particular place I would have to use a mirror so as to render the image in reverse so that it printed with the image correct.

After being placed in the acid bath and 'bitten' the stop out is washed off with turpentine and the result is a plate with the image bitten into it.

Ink is applied to the plate and the surface gently wiped with muslin with the result that the ink is trapped in the areas that have been bitten.

The plate is then placed on the 'bed' of the etching press, damp paper laid on top and the plate passed through the press under pressure.

The result is an original etching, the inking up process is then repeated to produce an edition.

The number of proofs obtained is limited as the metal is worn away by the wiping process.

The edition is numbered, the second number refers to the number of proofs in the edition and the first number is identification of that proof and does not refer to the order the edition was proofed.

Peter Hickey