Etching for Beginners

Learn how to create an etched plate with line drawing and aquatint from your drawings during this two day course.

What will you learn?

During this in-depth two-day course, we will cover an introduction to etching. Students will create two plates (one zinc, one copper), incorporating an initial line bite as well as a tonal aquatint using the safer methods of Acrylic Resist Etching.

Hard Ground Line Drawing
Line Drawing with hard ground is the basis of creating an etched plate; the fundamental teaching of using a drawn line to produce a composition. This method can be strongly linked to those with a love for drawing and composition, as well as working meticulously and methodically. This technique incorporates the preparation of metal plate, the use of hard ground resist along with etching the line drawing through the resist, before finally cleaning and printing the plate using the intaglio method.

Aquatint
Aquatint in etching is the means in which varied tones are applied to the surface of the plate, in order to create various tones on the print itself. These tones are achieved through a series of incrementally bitten (or etched) dots into a chosen matrix. This technique is usually a follow-on technique to Line Drawing, but can also be used as a stand-alone process for creating a tonal print from scratch.

Topics covered:

• A brief history of etching 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