Love to know what are the types of engraving/etching?

Engraving and etching are popularly used nowadays, because it gives beautification and uniqueness to the material that can also be called a master piece.

Wood Engraving – this will require the creation of a relief image on a block of wood just by cutting away the parts. This kind of design is directly drawn into the wooden block and then the all parts of it are cut away to leave only the design. One the surface has been rise the image will be the result of the engraving.

Copper and Steel Engravings – this kind of engraving were made by incising a design into a metal plate. The image of this are generally incised into the matrix in a series of lines, and the term line engraving are sometimes used.

Etchings – the concept of this type of engraving are similar to copper and steel engravings, but they have a main differences and that is the image are being engraved in the plate with the used of acid.

Lithography – this is the type of engraving that was created by drawing an image into the stone or popularly known to be called stone drawing, or a metal plate using a grease crayon or a grease ink that was called tusche. The process of this was based on the principle that the grease and water don’t mix.

• Chromolithograph this is a colored lithograph with some colors that are printed from a separate stone with the image that are composed from those colors.

• Tinted lithograph – this is the image is printed from one stone and which it has wash color for tinting applied from one or two other stones. This is a pantograph process and there were no plate mark is created when the lithograph is printed.

Aquatint – the process of this are similar to etching, and the acid material is grainy. This graininess was created by dissolving resin in spirit, applying this to a metal plate and heats it. The spirit will evaporates while the resin will left stuck to the metal plate. This will create the effect of the graininess to the plate and will provide more textured effect.

Stipple – this kind of print was created from a metal plate in which the design has been produced using a different sized small dots grouped more or less that are closely together in order to create areas of tone.

• Stipple etching is made in the same manner of line etching. But its design is composed in the waxy ground with dots created by an etching needle or some other tools.
• Stipple engraving is created also on the same manner of line engraving, but the design was engraved into the plate using only dots that was made with stippling burin. This stipple is an intaglio process, so the prints are made in this kind of manner will really have a plate mark.

Mezzotint – this was thought as the inver5se of the other intaglio processes. This was created using from black to white, rather than a vice versa. In this type of engraving the metal plate is worked using a rocker, which it roughens the entire surface of the plate with some tiny holes and burrs.

Engraving and Etching

Engraving and etching are processes used to make intaglio prints. An intaglio print is made from a plate, Newspapers and printed advertisements formerly used engravings. Stamps and paper money are still printed using the engraving process because of its ability to reproduce fine lines and sharp details.

Engraving first became popular in Europe during the fifteenth century, when paper became available far more widely than it had been previously. A plate of soft metal is used, most often copper, and the design engraved (cut into) into the surface using a tool called a “burin” which is a square tool-steel rod, sharpened diagonally at one end, such that the prominent corner becomes an effective and controllable cutting edge. Steel is the material of choice for engraving plates. One disadvantage of steel is that it rusts easily.

Etching became popular during the sixteenth century. It evolved from fifteenth century techniques for putting patterns on swords. Etching has printmaking technique in which lines are created in a metal plate through the action of acids and acid-resistant grounds.
Etching grounds have evolved from an unpredictable waxy substance, to harder varnishes used by instrument makers, to petroleum derivatives like asphaltum. The first etchings were done on iron plates, which corroded quickly. Zinc is often used as an etching plate because it is less expensive than copper. This process is much more like drawing with a pencil than engraving is, and many artists preferred it.

Engraving and etching have been used in printing for hundreds of years, they were the most commonly used method for reproducing images. Newspapers and printed advertisements formerly used engravings and even Stamps and paper money are still printed using the engraving process it because of it ability to reproduce fine lines and sharp details.