GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Aquatint is an etching process used to achieve subtle shifts between light and dark. Aquatinting is the application of fine particles of resin onto all or part of a plate. The plate is heated to melt the resin and is then exposed to acid. The acid eats into the metal around the particles, creating a granular pattern. Tonal gradations depend on the strength of the acidic bath and the length of time the plate is submerged. Aquatint produces areas of tone ranging from deep black to light gray, and can give the appearance of ink washes, but upon close inspection it is made up of a network of fine grains much like a pixelated image.
Variations on the aquatint process include sugar-lift, spit biting, and soapgrounding. The processes rely on alternate materials applied to the plate's surface. These techniques can heighten tonal gradations and produce printed marks that resemble brushstrokes.
Adapted from
Emily Schiller, Visions of America exhibition gallery text, 2016.
NOTES
An etching process used to produce continuous areas of tone on the copperplate through the controlled application of small particles of resin. These particles are uniformly distributed on the plate by using a dusting box. Then they are fused to the plate by heating. When the plate is put into an acid bath in order to be bitten, the resin particles protect the small surfaces they cover from the biting, and the result is, on the proof, a dark surface with small roundish white spots. Aquatint can be used on all the surface of a plate, and then worked with a scraper. It can be used also on a plate where the areas which should remain white on the proof are protected with varnish from either graining and biting, or only from biting.
Brigitte Baer (editor Steven A. Nash), Picasso the Printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, 1983. (exh 9/11- 10/30/1983). Drawings of instruments by Daniella Benedetti.
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Apply to objects where medium equals aquatint
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General Description
Aquatint is an etching process used to achieve subtle shifts between light and dark. Aquatinting is the application of fine particles of resin onto all or part of a plate. The plate is heated to melt the resin and is then exposed to acid. The acid eats into the metal around the particles, creating a granular pattern. Tonal gradations depend on the strength of the acidic bath and the length of time the plate is submerged. Aquatint produces areas of tone ranging from deep black to light gray, and can give the appearance of ink washes, but upon close inspection it is made up of a network of fine grains much like a pixelated image.
Variations on the aquatint process include sugar-lift, spit biting, and soapgrounding. The processes rely on alternate materials applied to the plate's surface. These techniques can heighten tonal gradations and produce printed marks that resemble brushstrokes.
Adapted from
Emily Schiller, Visions of America exhibition gallery text, 2016.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
An etching process used to produce continuous areas of tone on the copperplate through the controlled application of small particles of resin. These particles are uniformly distributed on the plate by using a dusting box. Then they are fused to the plate by heating. When the plate is put into an acid bath in order to be bitten, the resin particles protect the small surfaces they cover from the biting, and the result is, on the proof, a dark surface with small roundish white spots. Aquatint can be used on all the surface of a plate, and then worked with a scraper. It can be used also on a plate where the areas which should remain white on the proof are protected with varnish from either graining and biting, or only from biting.
Brigitte Baer (editor Steven A. Nash), Picasso the Printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, 1983. (exh 9/11- 10/30/1983). Drawings of instruments by Daniella Benedetti.
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materials_and_techniques-0038.xml.nores