|
Once the mordent has acted upon the plate, the
work process is continued by checking the trace
depth of the complete design. Some areas may be
saved for lighter and more delicate effects
while others are acted upon again with mordent,
so that as many sessions take place as a good
piece of work requires. Finally the acid-resist
is removed from the plate to make the latter
ready for printing.
Etching requires smooth handling rather than the
manual pressure needed when using a burin or
drypoint. The stylus is only used to remove the
protecting ground from the plate, and the manual
effort of deep-cutting is substituted for
corrosive acid action onto the metal. It is
however necessary to point out that this
apparently easy-to-handle technique is very
sensitive to the cleanliness of the metal, the
evenness of the ground covering, the mordent
concentration, the working temperature etc.. As
in most professional activities experience is
the true key to good results, but nowhere is
this more evident than in the practice of
etching, which shows that scientific rigor in
the artistic application of chemical agents is
not infallible.
A close and careful observation of an etching’s
lines shows how they are slightly irregular and
shaky, which confers a special vibration to them
and constitutes one of their peculiarities.
Likewise, the crossing of lines creates
characteristic deep dark painterly spaces such
as Rembrandt managed to achieve in his prints.
|
 |
