The signed aquatint and the works of Salvador Dalì

If you paint with an aquatint technique at the beginning you must follow all the etching processes exactly up to the creation of the groove on the plate and its cleaning. The next step is to sprinkle on the matrix the rosin in very fine grains sprinkled as homogeneously as possible, to do this the aquatint case is used, it is a wooden case where a certain amount of rosin is blown inside it which creates a cloud of dust that will then settle on the plate in a uniform manner, obviously the plate must be inserted before this procedure. The matrix is ​​then placed on a constant flame until the pitch has melted on the plate, the pitch will create a layer of raised dots where the ink will then pass. At this point comes the brushing phase, the phase in which the engraver brushes with insulating varnish all the parts of the plate that must remain white during the printing phase, then the matrix is ​​immersed in acid for the first etching (phase indirect recess) this will cause a visible grain on the matrix which will be of a pale gray color during printing. The matrix must then be thoroughly cleaned in water and dried after the other established areas are covered with a brush on the plate that will give the first shade of gray, then on the plate it will pass again to etching to fix the brushstroke and to have a shade of gray more accentuated, remember that the brushstroke paint after the etching phase remains on the plate. These brushstrokes and etching processes are repeated several times in order to create a sufficient diversity of tones at the time of engraving. Once all the pre-established processes have been done and you think you can proceed, the matrix is ​​well cleaned and all the black of the brush strokes is removed to then have the clearly visible result of the engraving on the plate with the different types of grooves based on the steps carried out in precedence. The engraver will proceed to inking and will establish which colors to use in which parts of the matrix and using them making sure that the color goes very well into the cracks of the matrix. When all the color passages have been carried out, we move on to printing, i.e. the matrix is ​​placed on the press, the moistened sheet is applied above the matrix and with the pressure of the rollers our print comes out.