Drypoint Refresher

Have you been feeling an urge to get back into intaglio printing? Our refresher courses are tailored to recharge your knowledge and motivate you to continue to explore the wonderful world of printmaking. Learn how to reproduce your artwork using a drypoint plate on copper during this one-day refresher course and receive one month’s free studio membership to support your journey.

What will you learn?

Often confused with the process of etching, Drypoint is in itself an individual, standalone technique. It consists of drawing, or ‘engraving’, fairly deeply into the copper plate using specialist tools in order to create an image. Unlike etching there is no use of resists or mordants to bite the metal plate, making drypoint a fairly simple way to create a plate for printing multiple prints.

At Green Door, we use copper plates in order to create our drypoint prints. We feel this metal gives the drypoint print a certain image quality which distinguishes it from etchings. By using copper, there is a soft ‘burr’ in the ink quality, which is created by the curl of the metal produced when drawing with the etching needle. This ‘burr’ is something which printers like to maintain by printing and wiping carefully.

Drypoint technique has historically often been used by artists to correct plates when they are being etched, but as a stand-alone process it can be a very versatile and precise medium.

During this course you will create a single colour edition on paper.

Topics covered:

• A brief history of drypoint and its terminology
• Paper types, tools and materials in intaglio printmaking
• How to produce your own prints using the methods covered
• How to sign and edition your prints