Etching

The etching was born in the mid-15th century and is the oldest of the indirect recess techniques. It is called indirect because it is the acid and not the action of the engraver that creates the trace or marks on the matrix. Recess because the marks made by the acid will retain the ink that will be transferred to the paper during printing. A zinc or copper plate can be used for etching, but copper guarantees a better quality of the engraving. First you need to polish and eliminate all the imperfections that are present on the slab, then the slab is waxed, with the use of a stove and the wax is melted on the slab, then it is smoked with an oil lamp so the wax will be more compact and the marks will be more visible. The sketch is placed on the plate and going over the drawing will leave a slight trace visible against the light. Once the sketch has been removed, we will go with a metal tip to go over the remaining lines of the drawing that will guide us in order to draw and remove the wax where the acid will then create the groove. The etching phase takes place when the plate is immersed in acid, the acid goes to eat the points that are not protected by the wax. When it is considered appropriate, the plate is removed from the acid and immersed in water to give an initial cleaning and then with a solvent all the black is removed so as to leave visible only the design left by the acid. Finally, you can proceed with the inking, making sure that the ink goes well in the marks caused by the acid, with the tarlatan you proceed to clean the plate so as to leave the ink clearly visible only on the drawing. We place the plate on the press and put our sheet on the plate, we will go to imprint the two with the roller and our etching will come out.