FEATURE
Etching
Etching was originally invented as a method for adding decoration to armour during the Middle Ages. Artists began to use metal plates for printing in the 15th century, when Albrecht Durer made work on iron plates. Later artists such as Andrea Mantegna in Italy and Rembrandt in Holland went on to make etchings on copper.
TECHNIQUE
Etching
Etching was originally invented as a method for adding decoration to armour during the Middle Ages. Artists began to use metal plates for printing in the 15th century, when Albrecht Durer made work on iron plates. Later artists such as Andrea Mantegna in Italy and Rembrandt in Holland went on to make etchings on copper.
Traditionally a metal plate, usually copper or zinc, is coated with an acid-resistant material called ground. Using a sharp needle, lines are made through the ground, revealing the plate beneath. The plate is immersed in a dilute acid bath and the acid etches the plate where it has been revealed, making grooves in the surface of the plate which will then hold ink.
Apart from this traditional approach, there are many other ways of preventing the acid from ‘biting’ the plate, using varnishes, sticky tape or spray paint to provide resistance to the acid. Aquatint, spit bite, sugar lift and white ground techniques allow more painterly marks.
The endless possibility of this technique is the really exciting thing about etching.
Learn more about Etching
Etching: Hard Ground | 3 Tuesday evenings | October 2024
Whether you are looking for a greater understanding of the hard ground technique or are a complete beginner to etching, you will come out of this three evening course with new skills and unique prints.
Etching Year 2 (Intermediate & Advanced)| 40 weeks | Monday evenings | September 2025
The year will focus on consolidating your etching knowledge, on developing ideas, and on ways to bring ideas and technique together. There will be group discussion, group crit and one-to-one tutorial opportunities which will focus on how to develop your work.
More Features
All features
Collecting the Looking
“I love drawing really quickly. I love drawing in really difficult situations. I love drawing in the dark. I like what happens when you can’t see everything or when it’s passed and you have to remember it rather than drawing what it actually looks like, so it’s about the experience of looking as much as what I’m looking at.”
We talk to Michelle Avison about building a resilient artistic practice over 30 years.
Hard ground
A traditional technique in etching. After degreasing the surface of the plate, hard ground is rolled over the surface.
“Revealing the unknown is always the thing I’m interested in”
SooMin Leong’s practice focuses on the transition from one place to another, both through literal journeys and the many stages that go into making her prints. Each is a story informed by the experience and impression of travelling. We interviewed her about her own journey into printmaking.