Isidro

In the intaglio process , scratches and incisions are made into into a plate or matrix. The plate is usually made of copper, zinc or an acrylic sheet, which holds the ink or pigment. The artist pushes ink with a squeegee onto the entire plate and wipes off excess ink on the surface leaving the ink only in the incised lines. A damp sheet of paper is placed on top of the plate and the plate is run through the etching press, which pushes the paper into the groves, lifting the ink out of the groves. Drypoint, etching, engraving, mezzotint and aquatint are some techniques under intaglio process. In contrast to the relief method, the images produced in etching are more fluid and spontaneous.