MAKING ETCHINGS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 385, 20 June 1928, Page 7

MAKING ETCHINGS

AN INTERESTING PROCESS GROWING IN POPULARITY Etchings are “in the air.” In the whole history of the world there were never so many beautiful plates made as there are today. Although all etchings have a common basis, yet each etcher has something peculiar to himself which helps to make his work characteristic and personal, yet how many people who buy and—among the shrewd —collect them, know how and by what process they come into existence? An etching is not drawn with a pen and ink, and a pen and ink drawing is not called an etching—an etching must be printed from a metal plate. There are various kinds of metals that an etching may be made upon, namely, copper, zinc, steel or aluminium. Copper is the one generally chosen, and it is difficult to imagine a better metal; it can be prepared to any degree of hardness or softness, and lastly, owing to its beautiful colour, is a delight to work upon. Zinc is also a good metal, because lines worked upon this print with a peculiar richness of quality. It is, however, much softer than copper, and as a rule wears out sooner in the process of printing. Following is a brief explanation of the method employed in the production of an etching: A polished copper or zinc plate is covered with a wax preparation, which resists acid; a steel point is used in drawing upon the plate, this point cutting through the wax and leaving the copper lines bare. It must be understood that the subject has to be drawn in reverse upon the metal. This can be done by placing the copy in front of a mirror and working from the reflection. An acid is then applied to the plate, and it attacks or bites only where the steel point has cut through the wax. When the biting is completed, the resisting wax coating is removed without in any way cutting or scratching the copper. A print is then obtained by dabbing a thick, oily ink over the plate, and it is then wiped with a stiff muslin to remove the superfluous ink; the plate is then placed face upward on the bed of thp etching press—the whole being passed between the rollers of the press under pressure. By this means the paper is pressed into the etched or bitten lines and draws out the ink deposited therein. This appears to be a comparatively simple process, but it is not, and from taking up the polished 'copper plate, at the beginning, to the production of the proof at the end, there are a hundred and one technical difficulties, pitfalls and disappointments; on the I other hand, the art exercises a tremendous fascination upon the worker. Keep plenty of clean blotting-paper in a handy place in the dining room; then when anything is spilled it can be quickly absorbed, saving a lot of washing.