He would ink the plate, then wipe it, and his wiping cloth or hand would run across the higher, nonetched areas without removing the ink from the pockets. After etching, the printer would remove the asphaltum or rosin grains with a solvent. In either case the result was a delicate pattern of pockets in the plate-tiny etched areas that could hold ink. If they covered more than 50 percent of the plate surface they tended to form a connected network, and the etching took place in the gaps in the net if the aquatint was light, it was the etched areas that would form a network while the nonetched areas became separate points. Once applied, and set with heat, the particles would resist the etching chemical, protecting the original plate surface during the etch. The printer could spread these particles evenly with a device called a вЂњdusting boxвЂќ or could scatter them onto the plate more irregularly by sifting them through a piece of cloth, traditionally a sock, which could be squeezed or shaken over the plate to put down an aquatint grain in any desired area. When etching came along things became more casual, and sometimes the printer would leave ink on the plate surface, to add to the tonality of the print.

When engravings were printed, the inked plates were wiped so thoroughly that the background was absolutely clean. In some etchings we'll see the lines have the nervous quality of the hand rather than the stiff appearance of the burin meeting intransigent copper. Almost as soon as etching was developed, engravers began to use it to help them make their hand-cut plates many prints combine both methods. Etching and drypoint produced prints with a different character from the older, more restrained forms of reproductive copper engraving. This technique, called вЂњdrypoint,вЂќ did not require etching, and allowed the artist to do rapid work that could be seen on a proof print without the delay necessitated by an additional etching stage.

Once a plate was etched and the resist removed, further work could be done on the plate by using the needle to draw with more pressure, raising burrs capable of holding ink. Little pressure was needed to make the needle move freely through the resist.

Intaglio printing