My etchings usually start with a drawing, often supplemented by photographs. From this I produce an image that is transferred to a metal (usually copper) etching plate that has been covered with a coating of resin, called a ‘ground’. The image has to be a mirror image so that it prints the right way round.
I use sheet copper for my plates, and the images are created by a combination of line etching and aquatint. After transferring the image onto the ground, I scratch the drawing into it with a pointed tool. The plate is then etched in acid, which cuts a sharp groove in the metal where the lines have been scratched. I remove the ground and take a proof at this stage, on which I work out how I want to shade different areas of the design.
After this, a fine resin dust is applied evenly to the whole plate (called aquatint) so that further etching in acid eats away the copper in between the minute resin dots on the surface. The plate is then etched several times after progressively more areas of the plate are coated with a varnish. The first areas that are coated receive less acid between the dots and the resulting etch is shallower: they therefore print with a light tone. The areas that are coated later receive greater exposure to the acid, are etched deeper and therefore print darker. Thus, the aquatint is used to create a series of different tones in a print.
Next, the resin is removed with spirit and the plate is coated with a viscous printing ink – always black on my prints! The plate is then wiped very gently until the top, un-etched, surface is clean and shiny but ink remains in all the grooves.
Finally, the plate is placed face-up on the bed of the printing press. The printing paper is first soaked in water to moisten it, and is then placed, whilst damp, over the plate. Layers of thick blanket are placed over the paper, and the whole sandwich is passed through the heavy rollers on the press, exerting a huge pressure. This forces the paper into the grooves on the plate that contain the ink. Finally, after the sandwich has passed through the roller, the paper is peeled off the plate. Hey presto, you have a print!