etching
Sign in to savethumb|upright|The Soldier and his Wife. Etching by Daniel Hopfer, who is believed to have been the first to apply the technique to printmaking.
AI overview
Etching is a printmaking technique where an image is created by using acid to eat away at a metal plate, which is then used to print multiple copies of the design. It matters because it was an important artistic innovation that allowed printmakers like Daniel Hopfer to produce detailed images that could be reproduced and shared widely.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
22 sectionsContents
- History
- Origin
- Etching in antiquity
- Early etching
- Callot's innovations: échoppe, hard ground, stopping-out
- Variants
- Printmaking technique in detail
- Nontoxic etching
- Photo-etching
- Types of metal plates
- Industrial uses
- Metallographic etching
- Controlling the acid's effects
- Hard grounds
- Aquatint
- Sugar lift
- Spit bite
- Printing
- Faults
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|upright|The Soldier and his Wife. Etching by Daniel Hopfer, who is believed to have been the first to apply the technique to printmaking.
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types of material. As a method of printmaking, it is, along with engraving, the most important technique for old master prints, and remains in wide use today. In a number of modern variants such as microfabrication etching and photochemical milling, it is a crucial technique in modern technology, including circuit boards.