“a window is a tiny portal” soft ground intaglio etching, 20x22, 18x24

Here’s my attempt to explain how I made this etching, to distinguish this process from a typical reproduction of a drawing.

In the soft ground intaglio process, a soft, sticky ground is applied to a metal plate, and then I draws on a sheet of paper placed over the plate, pushing the paper into the ground and causing it to lift in areas where pressure is applied. Then some magic happens when I put this piece of metal in an acid bath and my soft lines burn into the metal. I reapply ground and so the whole thing again until I get the contrast I want in the final print. Once it’s at that point I scrape oil based in all over the piece of metal, wipe away excess, soak paper (only paper with lots of sizing glue in its fibers) and run it through a very tight press. Xxxxooo