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Images of Edinburgh
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The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries
Images of Edinburgh
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Etching
Etching
Etching
About the image medium
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Etching
Notes
A printmaking technique, using an 'intaglio' method where the design is bitten into a metal plate, first coated with an acid resistant waxy substance. The design is drawn onto the plate, using a steel etching needle to cut through the surface coating; the plate is varnished and then immersed in acid which bites through the drawn lines into the metal. Additional use of the protective varnish allows for variation in tone and depth of line. Unlike those of an engraving produced by a burin cutting into metal, the lines of an etching may be slightly irregular, but the prepared plate lends itself to more spontaneous drawing in the first place.
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