A burnisher is a steel tool used for flattening burrs and polishing the plate surface, as well as for making corrections. Burnishers are used in making both etchings and engravings. Other often-used etching and engraving tools include burins, roulettes, and scrapers.
A scraper is a steel tool used to scrape away material from the surface of a printing plate, as well as for correcting mistakes. Scrapers are used for both etchings and engravings. Other often-used etching and engraving tools include burins, roulettes, and burnishers.
A wood engraving is a print made by cutting an image into the end grain of a piece of wood. It is different from a “woodcut“, in which the image is cut into the face of the board, though often people refer to all prints made by cutting into wood as a “woodcut”. To make […]
Mezzotint is an engraving technique developed in the seventeenth century which allows for the creation of prints with soft gradations of tone and rich, velvety, and deep blacks. Mezzotint is created by engraving a copper or steel plate by rocking a toothed metal tool across the surface to prick the entire surface with small holes. Each […]
Aquatint is a method of achieving gradations of tone through a very fine network of lines or dots on the plate. However, the lines and dots in the aquatint are formed through a different technique than is used with an etching, in which the image is formed by scratching through the ground. The artist making an […]
Softground etching is a form of etching in which tallow is added to the ground before it is spread on the plate. The tallow prevents the ground from fully hardening. A sheet of paper is laid over the ground. The artist then draws on the paper and then lifts it up. When the artist drew, […]
Intaglio is a type of printing in which cuts are made into a metal plate. The word “Intaglio” means “incising” in Italian. Intaglio printing, which emerged in the 1500s, was a major development in print-making. Before then, prints were generally made by relief cuts. In other words, material would be removed from the plate and […]
An engraving is a method of printmaking in which a sharp steel tool called a burin is used to cut slivers out of a metal plate (usually copper) to create an image. The plate will be inked and then the ink will be wiped off of the plate but left in the grooves. A damp […]
Etchings and engravings are both methods of creating art with the use of a plate in a printing press. And in both, the plate has grooves that hold the ink. The difference is in the making of those grooves. In an etching, the artist typically scratches through a coating applied to the face of the […]
An etching is a print in which the image on paper is created by pressing an etched plate against the paper. The plate is etched through a complex multistep process. The short explanation of the process is as follows: First, the artist coats a metal plate with an oil-based material. This coating is called the […]
A burin is a steel tool used to incise cuts into a printing plate. It is used when making an engraving. Other engraving tools include scrapers, roulettes, and burnishers.
A portfolio is a collection of fine art prints produced as a cohesive set by the artist, printer, or publisher. A portfolio might be simply a large set of the artist’s work or it might be a careful selection of a few of the artist’s best works. In most cases, though, the portfolio has a […]
