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Crafts - Etching & Engraving

Crafts - Etching & Engraving

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The Thames and Hudson Manual of Etching and Engraving with 111 illustrations, in colour and black and white

1992, reprint, paperback
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• The Thames and Hudson Manual of Etching and Engraving with 111 illustrations, in colour and black and white [top]
  First published in 1972 in Great Britain and reprinted in 1992 in paperback by Thames and Hudson, 200pp, ISBN 0500680019

Synopsis/About the Book: People have stated that the principles of etching can be taught in a single morning; that the trainee can produce a first-class plate from such a quick course; and then turn out a perfect impression from it, even without much knowledge of the craft, nor the materials used in it.

However far greater knowledge is needed to extend the range of the trainee etcher's skills so that more ideas can be developed and worked with in confidence; so that they can start to control the most complex plates; and it is here in this book that the author has laid out the methods, materials and principles involved in engraving and etching. Many of them can be labelled as traditional, but that is because they remain the most practical, reliable and flexible available.

The author has added new materials and techniques into the book, purely from the fact that each engrave develops his or her own unique way of doing things; and the illustrations (of which there are 111) in the book show examples of such individual contributions to the craft


Chapters:
Introduction
1. The history and development of etching
2. The technique of etching
Metals; preparing the plate; cleaning the plate; bevelling the plate; wax grounds; applying the ground; smoking the ground; tracing; working into the ground; stopping out
3. Soft-ground etching
Soft ground impressions
4. Aquatint
Technique; Alternative Aquatint Grounds; Lift Ground or Sugar Aquatint
5. Open bite, deep etch and relief etching
Includes a section on ready-made and welded surfaces
6. Photo-etching
7. Acids
Dutch mordant; Nitric acid; Ferric Chloride; Acetic Acid
8. Methods of biting
Biting the plate; Biting the Aquatint; Creeping Bite; Rebiting
9. Corrections and Alterations
Repoussage; Scraping as a positive technique; etching out
10. The history and development of burin engraving
11. The technique of burin engraving
12. Drypoint
13. Mezzotint
14. Intaglio printing: monochrome
The printing-room; Inks; Oils (Mixing and Grinding); Made-up inks; Inking the Plate; Wiping the Plate; Paper; The Press; Adjusting and Setting the Pressures; Taking the Print; Printing other Intaglio Processes; Drying and Flattening; Errors
15. Intaglio Printing: colour
The 'Dolly' Method; The 'Woodcut' Method; Multiple Plate Printing; Single-Plate Printing
16. The Finishing Touches
Cleaning and Storing the Plate; Plaster Prints; Editions

Further Reading; Glossary
Appendix 1: tools and materials
Appendix 2: Suppliers
Index

About the Author: At the time of publication, Walter Chamberlain was Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Humberside Polytechnic