Introduction to
Aluminum-Plate Etching
Tuesdays 1:00 – 4:00pm
April 1, 8, 15, & 22
Pay what you can: $200 to $400 (materials are included)
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Etching is an ancient printmaking technique dating back to the 15th century. It creates everything from crisp, intricate and delicate lines, to beautiful and soft tonal areas and gradations.
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Aluminum offers some significant advantages over traditional copper. Aluminum is etched using copper sulphate, a much more eco- and people-friendly etching solution than what is needed (ferric chloride) to etch copper. Aluminum self-aquatints, which saves a lot of time and further steps with hazardous chemicals. It is also less expensive & widely available. And aluminum produces beautifully organic tones that include subtle variations (the nature of its self-aquatinting feature) which give it a beauty and quality very difficult to achieve with copper.
In etching, an image or 'drawing' is made on a metal plate by protecting some areas of the plate while exposing others to a mordant that eats down into it during the etching process, creating lines and roughened areas that lie below the surface of the plate. Ink is wiped down into these etched areas, and the plate is run through an etching press with lightly-dampened paper. The softened paper fibers pick up the ink as they are pushed deep into the etched areas by the press, and a print is born!
There are many ways to expose some areas of the plate while protecting others to create an etched plate rich with lines, toned areas, and textures. Grounds protect the plate from the mordant. Soft grounds can be wiped away to reveal areas of the plate, drawn into to create lines, and pressed into with textured objects to create textured areas. Hard grounds can be scratched away to create lovely detailed and precise line work, and can be lifted from the plate in broader areas to create regions of tone and other interesting effects. These methods are what this class is all about!
​We will experiment with:
Hard ground and Soft ground – when to use each, and what you can do with them;
Stop-outs (which also protect areas of the plate);
Coffee lift and molasses lift;
Spit bite techniques.
You will also learn:
How to prepare a metal plate for etching;
How to ink up, wipe, and print an etched plate, including multi-color inking on the same plate;
How to design a multi-plate etching by combining two (or more) plates to create a single artwork;
Methods for registering paper & plate accurately, when printing successive layers on a single print;
How to make a small edition of prints, and how to number them;
How to prepare paper for intaglio printing;
How to mix ink colors & assess how different colors will look together;
How to modify inks to change their translucency, viscosity, & other properties to suit your needs.​​
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All materials will be provided; we will use non-toxic, ecologically friendly printmaking inks. Classes will be held in Verdigris Gallery's studio in Essex, CT, a fully-appointed printmaking studio with inks, rollers & brayers, and our Takach and Ettan etching presses.
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This will be a small group of 2-4 adults. Both those new to printmaking and those with printmaking experience are welcome. An advantage of being a small group is flexibility, and time for individualized instruction and discussion of your ideas & goals (if you're coming in with some).​
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About the Instructor:
MK Wynn is a painter & printmaker, and co-owner of Verdigris Gallery. She has spent most of her adult life teaching (most recently painting, drawing & printmaking; and earlier, psychology), to both children and adults. She is an elected member of the Boston Printmakers, and belongs to the Monotype Guild of New England, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, and Zea Mays Printmaking Studio. She is certified in ecologically-friendly intaglio etching techniques.
You can learn more about her & see her artworks here.
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Email Us to register
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