Creating tone in etching: aquatint
Principle: tiny dots of resist are sprayed onto the plate and dried: the metal areas around
the dots is then etched to form a reticulated ink-holding surface
Sections of an aquatinted intaglio plate with evenly sprayed dots of resist (purple colour) at different stages of biting.
1. Shallow etch
2. Deep etch: the mordant is beginning to undercut the dots of resist.
3. The dots of resist have been undercut and have floated free from the plate: this is now flattened and has a non-ink-holding surface (open bite).
A
Two prints made to show the tones acieved with different biting times. One plate was made using rosin and one was made using Lascaux Aquatint/Spray resist. Can you identify which is which. The answer is at bottom of this page.
B
The prints were taken from plates prepared in the following ways:
A Lascaux Aquatint/Spray Resist. Applied by airbrush, dots allowed to dry, then etched.
B Rosin sprinkled using an Aquatint box, dots heated with flame, melted onto plate and etched.