Last Sunday, I continued working on my Robinson’s brewery etching using a mezzotint technique. The plate I am using was originally for another print which didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I had only etched the outline of the design but decided to start a fresh. The only problem was I had deep etched lines in the print which needed to be removed. The answer was to add Aquatint and then place the plate in strong acid for 15 minutes and let the lines disappear. I then creating my new etching from there. As the plate had been etched back, when I did a test print it came out black. This is where I used a ball burnisher and my own curved burnishing tool to smooth out the areas I wanted to be printed light. Any areas left in burnished would be printed dark.

Burnishing is a delicate and long process which requires concentration and good light. I will be showing the final results in my next post in the New Year.

Cheers!