I took this class in the Fall quarter (October-December) of 2000. Intaglio refers to the process of etching and printing a metal plate. We used zinc, but copper is also commonly used. I'll attempt to explain the processes of drawing/etching/inking/printing.

1) "Drawing" on the plate (not really drawing but you'll see what I mean):

DRY POINT: scraping into the plate with pretty much anything that will leave a mark (line)--most commonly a sharp metal tool called an etching needle or scribe. The "burr" that is pushed to the side of the groove that the scribe makes will hold ink underneath it, and gives a very rich but somewhat fuzzy line. These plates wear out quickly because the burr flattens out. These plates are NOT etched.

HARD GROUND: a thin coating of hard wax is rolled onto the metal, using a hot-plate and a brayer (roller). Once this cools and hardens, a slightly less pointy scribe, or anything else that will make a mark, can be used to scrape off the wax (making thin lines) and thereby expose the plate. The plate is then etched.

SOFT GROUND: a thin coat of soft wax is rolled on the metal, also using a hot-plate and brayer. This wax is so soft that if you touch the plate you'll lift the wax right off! Tissue paper/tracing paper is then placed over the waxed plate, the drawing is done on the tissue paper with pencil, charcoal, or even ball-point pen. The paper presses into the wax wherever it's drawn on, and will lift the wax off in a kind of dot-pattern (like how pencil really looks). It produces a much softer line than hard-ground, and can also be used to create tones. The plate is then etched.

The lines are done as a hardground, and the tones are an aquatint.

The horses are done as a softground. The fence and background are aquatint.

AQUATINT: used for making blocks of tones. Powdered rosin is dusted onto the plate, and fused with a propane torch. The rosin makes a very fine dot pattern which will ultimately be read as solid tones. The plate is then etched.

2) Etching: this is done using various strengths of nitric acid which will bite into the plate and create lines or holes. To make different tones, the plate is put into the acid for shorter or longer periods of time (we use something called asphaltum which is kind of like thinned tar to "hold" a tone--when the plate does not need to get any darker in that area the lines are painted over with asphaltum, then other areas can be etched longer but the "stopped out" areas won't darken, make sense?).

3) Inking: ink is wiped into the plate so that it will fill all the grooves and holes that were created during etching. The ink is then wiped (carefully!) from the SURFACE of the plate so that only the etched (incised) areas will print.

4) Printing: the plate is placed onto the printing press, with dampened printmaking paper (100% cotton, and dampened to make it flexible enough to pull the ink out of the grooves in the plate) over the plate. Felt blankets are used to cushion the roller, and the plate is rolled through (LOTS of pressure). Peel back the paper, and there's the the image!