Print Club: Intro to Photo Etching

An intaglio process in which an acid-resistant, photo-sensitive coating is applied to the surface of a metal plate. An image is exposed on to the plate using an ultraviolet light, the plate is developed leaving exposed areas of metal, this is then submerged into an acid bath to etch the image onto the plate. The etched line is then inked and printed onto a sheet of dampened paper. The photo etching process allows for an incredibly detailed image to be transferred, chemically, on to an etching plate, eliminating the need to hand draw on to the plate. This image can be a photographic image, a computer generated image or a hand drawn image