Frequently Asked Questions
These are a few of the questions that I am frequently asked;
Etching is a method of printing whereby a design is hand drawn with a needle through a layer of hard wax which covers a zinc or copper plate.
The plate is then immersed in a 10% acid solution. Nitric acid being used for zinc, and ferric chloride for copper. The wax protects the surface of the plate everywhere except where it has been exposed by the needle point. The longer the plate remains in the acid bath, the deeper the groove becomes, thus holding more ink, giving a darker image.
After the acid has etched the design the wax is cleaned off, and the plate is ready for printing. The whole plate is covered with printing ink, and then wiped clean with a gauze cloth called scrim. This has the effect of forcing the ink into the lines drawn with the needle. Dampened paper, usually a heavy paper (300 grams) is placed over the plate between two layers of blank newsprint, padded with three wool blankets of varying thickness. The whole ‘sandwich’ is then run under great pressure through the etching press.
Tone can be added to the image using a process called aquatint. Grains of a special resin are fused to the plate by heating it, producing a very fine dotted texture. The longer the plate is left in the acid the darker the tone will be. Areas can be stopped out with varnish at different stages in order to vary the tone.
A limited edition of varying quantity is then produced by the artist/printer (in Stella’s case seldom more than 100). When the edition has reached it’s limit the plate is destroyed by defacing it so that no more prints can be taken. It usually involves drilling a hole through the centre of the plate.
The following definition was agreed by the Third International Congress of Arts, held in Vienna in September, 1960, and a version was issued by the Print Council of America in 1961.
It is the exclusive right of the artist/printmaker to fix the definitive number of each of his/her graphic works in the different techniques, engraving, lithography etc.
Each print, in order to be considered an original, must bear not only the signature but also an indication of the total edition and the serial number of each print. Once the edition has been made it is desirable that the original plate, stone, woodblock, or whatever material was used in pulling the print edition, should be defaced or should bear a distinctive mark indicating that the edition has been completed.
The above principles apply to graphic works which can be considered originals. That is to say, to prints for which the artist engraved the original plate, cut the wood-block, worked on the stone or any other material.
Works which do not fulfil these conditions must be considered reproductions.
For reproductions, no regulations are possible. However, it is desirable that reproductions should be acknowledged as such, and so distinguished beyond question from the original graphic work. This is particularly so when reproductions are of such outstanding quality that the artist, wishing to acknowledge the work materially executed by the printer, feels justified in signing them.
The version of the Print Council of America is similar in its requirements and states:-
An original print is a graphic work of art, the general requirements of which are:-
The artist alone has made the image in or upon the plate, stone, wood-block or other material for the purpose of creating a work of graphic art. The impression is made directly from that original material by the artist or Pursuant to his/her directions.
The finished proof is approved by the artist.