Etching is a printmaking technique in which designs are scratched into a copper plate with a sharp-pointed etching needle. The plate is first coated in a layer of waxy ground, usually colored black, into which the image is scratched to reveal the metal underneath. Once finished, the plate is dipped into an acid bath which eats away at the copper and creates the etched lines. These lines are then filled with ink and passed through a printing press as in the engraving process. Unlike in engraving, in which a burin carves directly into the copper plate, in etching, the etching needle merely exposes the plate, allowing the acid to “bite” into the metal.
Etched works in the Middlebury Museum’s collections include Scroll Weight by an anonymous Chinese artist, View by David Bumbeck, and Four Winds Farm by Luigi Lucioni.
Written by Julia Levin, edited by Simone Edgar Holmes
Bibliography
ExpertVillage Leaf Group. Intaglio Printmaking Tools: Marking With An Intaglio Burin. 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uThLqmV2PLo.
