Zinc Etching

Etching is a form of intaglio printmaking made by engraving a piece of metal and etching the marks using acid before inking and printing the matrix. All of the prints in this selection where made by free-hand engraving a thin piece of zinc with a metal point through a layer of hard wax. The metal plate was then submerged in nitric acid at specific intervals so the exposed zinc was eaten away by the acid, creating an etching; the longer the exposer, the deeper the line, the darker the resulting print.