A Treatise on Etching

by Maxime Lalanne

83. Dry Point Etching.—The dry point is also used for etching, without the intervention of the acid-bath. The design is executed with the dry point on the bare copper; the difference in values is obtained by the greater or less amount of pressure used, and by the difference in the distance between the lines. (See [Plate VII.]) The brilliancy of effect which etchings of this kind may or may not possess, depends on the use made of the scraper (see paragraph 49, [p. 33]).

You will find it convenient to varnish and smoke your plate, to begin with, and to trace the leading lines of your design on the ground, taking care to cut lightly into the copper with the point. Then remove the varnish, and continue your drawing, guided by these general outlines.

It is best to commence with the sky, or other delicate passages, and to remove the bur from them, if there are other stronger lines to be drawn over them.

You can see perfectly well what you are doing, by rubbing a little lamp-black mixed with tallow into the lines as you proceed, and cleaning the plate with the flat of your hand; in this way you can control your work, and can carry it forward until it is finished, either by removing more or less of the bur, or by allowing all of it to stand, or by the elaboration of those passages which seem to need it. The lines show on the plate as they are intended to show on the paper. You can therefore bring out your subject by shading; you can lay vigorous lines over lines from which the bur has been removed; you can take out, and you can put in. The effect produced in the printing is velvety and strong, similar to that produced by the stump on paper. Rembrandt employed the dry point, without scraping, in some of his principal etchings.

84. The Pen Process.—I must now speak to you of a process which offers certain advantages. Clean your plate thoroughly, first with turpentine, and then with whiting, and take care not to touch the polished surface with your fingers. Execute a design on the bare copper with the pen and ordinary ink. You must not, of course, expect to find in the pen the same delicacy as in the needle.

The design having been finished and thoroughly dried, ground and smoke your plate without, for the present, taking any further notice of the design; but be sure to see to it that the coat of varnish is not too thick; then lay the plate into water, and let it stay there for a quarter of an hour. Having withdrawn the plate, rub it lightly with a piece of flannel; the ink, having been softened by the water, comes off, together with the varnish which covers it, and leaves the design in well-defined lines on the copper, which you may now bite.

You may work either with one pen and several bitings, or with several pens of various degrees of fineness and one biting.

As in the case of soft ground etching, you may make additions with the needle to give delicacy.

It is necessary to ground the plate and to soak it in water as soon as may be after the finishing of the design. At the end of two days, the ink refuses to rub off.