| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
CONTACT SCM Gallery 15001 Gretna Green Drive Darnestown, MD 20878 USA (301) 869-9088 Send Us 
E-mail
© Copyright 2006 scmgallery.com All Rights Reserved |
| Aquatint Technique |
Aquatint Technique and Color Printing
The method used to aquatint the zinc plate is an aquatint box which dusts the plate with particles of rosin. The aquatint box is a large box constructed with a blower or fan. The blower creates a cloud of rosin dust in the aquatint box. After allowing the larger particles of rosin to settle to the bottom of the box, the zinc plate is placed on a shelf in the box and the fine particles of rosin settle on the plate evenly. The plate is then heated since heat melts the rosin particles causing them to adhere to the plate. The image and tones are created by placing the aquatinted plate in a nitric acid solution for varying lengths of time. Further work on the plate involves lightening selected areas of the plate through burnishing.
The plate is printed using a three-color one plate method. The plate is printed using the three primary colors--yellow, red and blue. This means that ink is applied to the plate, the ink is selectively removed to create a range of colors and the plate is printed separately for each color. Each successive color is printed over the preceding color. It takes three separate printings of the plate to produce a finished print.
--Susan Compton-Maddox
