Dusk
1979, Etching

“The process for creating etchings is called intaglio printing – meaning cut directly into the surface. Etchings are primarily done on soft metal like copper, since it is very responsive to pointed metal tools. To start, hot wax is rolled onto a copperplate. When the wax dries, the drawing is made by scratching away the wax with a needle. Then the plate is submerged into an acid bath, with the acid leaving corrosion lines where the wax has been scraped away. It must be watched and timed closely depending on how deep or shallow you want the lines to be. The same plate may be dipped multiple times after rewaxing and rescraping to achieve different depths of the gouges. Etchings are built in layers by this process. After the chemical etching is complete, ink is rolled on and the plate is wiped so that the shiny metal emerges. The lines begin to emerge from the ink. In a printing press, moist paper is pressed into the lines and lifted carefully off. The print emerges from the metal plate.”