Etching

You will need an etching plate, etching ground and a paintbrush.

Peel back the protective layer from your plate.

Apply the etching ground with a paintbrush

It wont look perfect or even. As long as the plate is completely covered it will be fine!

Begin to scratch your image onto the plate with the etching tools. Make sure your marks go

completely through the wax to the metal plate below.

Like this!

Continue to add detail to your

drawing until you are happy with it.

Mark making techniques like

cross hatching are particularly

effective in etching.

Its time to make a bath of acid! Its very mild but don’t do it by yourself…ask Leanne!! Always wear gloves and goggles when

working with acid!

Put your plate face down in the acid bath. This should help you to get a nice even etch…when its face up the acid can sit

in little holes and make even bigger holes that you don’t want in your picture!!

Etching time is variable. Check it every ten minutes by running a pin across one of your lines. When it is ready you should be able

to feel that the acid has eaten away at your design and made grooves where you drew your lines. It can take from 20 to 40 minutes depending on how delicately you have drawn your

image!

Remove your plate from the acid and rinse thoroughly with plenty of water.

Clean the etching

ground off with white

spirit

Until its all clean and shiny!

Apply a coat of etching ink over the whole plate with a cloth.

Make sure you get ink into all the lines you have etched. (don’t forget to put paper under you plate)

You need to wipe away all excess ink using a clean cloth. The plate should be clean but the ink should still be in the etched

lines!

Here is where we use the

printing press!

Place your plate face up on the

press

Wet some cartridge paper (not so wet it falls apart!)and place it on top of your plate.

Lay the felt from the press on top of your plate and paper…Roll your etching through the press and back again!

Lift your paper from the plate to

reveal your finished etching!

Hurrah!

Here are some more examples of etching