Family of neighbors (2016) Impressões e gravuras por Vjacheslav Illjashenko

Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method.[2] It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening a metal plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth, called a "rocker". In printing, the tiny pits in the plate retain the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. This technique can achieve a high level of quality and richness in the print.

Mezzotint is often combined with other intaglio techniques, usually etching and engraving. The process was especially widely used in England from the eighteenth century, to reproduce portraits and other paintings. It was somewhat in competition with the other main tonal technique of the day, aquatint. Since the mid-nineteenth century it has been relatively little used, as lithography and other techniques produced comparable results more easily. Robert Kipniss and Peter Ilsted are two notable 20th-century exponents of the technique; M. C. Escher also made eight mezzotints.

Etching
The term etching can cover a variety of techniques, but usually refers to the corrosion of a metal plate using acid to produce a line. My etchings follow a very traditional method.

Preparing the plates.
I clean my copper plate using ammonia and whiting to remove all the grease, i then paint sugar lift on to each plate to create the images i want to etch. A liquid varnish is then poured over the design and once that has set, i rub away the sugar lift solution. I am then left with the line i have created with the sugar lift. I am then ready to aquatint my plate.

Temas relacionados

EtchingMezzotintMezzotint On PaperOriginal ImageEtching On A Copper Plate