Kakayi Etching - Etsen

  Fantasy is the bird  in your head , and lets see how they  fly  from their cages through

    the sky .  ( Gerald Brenan 1978)        

  Etching metal is a speciality at Proetch. Etching is the engraving of material such as stone, glass and most importantly to Proetch Services, metal. This method is carried out with acid using a form of resist to put a pattern on a surface goes back thousands of years. This method is known as photo etching or photo fabrication and has been around in one form or another for many years. Allegedly Cleopatra had jewellery made in this manner.

In the fifteen century Linseed oil was used as a resist to mask the area that was not to be affected by the etchant, and a vinegar-based etchant was used to engrave the surface of armour. As the process evolved other resists were developed such as waxes and resins. This allowed the process to be used for intaglio printmaking that was the etching into iron or copper plates using a wax ground cut using a Sharpe point. It was not until the nineteenth century that glass was etched, due to the discovery of hydrofluoric acid.

In the nineteenth century photography as we now know it was being developed, and as a spin from this new stronger and more versatile resists were developed, these new resists were light sensitive and called photoresists. The new photoresist when exposed to ultraviolet light causes polymers in the resist to cross link, so that by the use of a phototool an image can be printed onto the surface. The first person to be credited with the first ever photoetching was JN Niepce having succeeded in 1826. In 1888 John Baynes patented the etching of material from two sides.

In the early twentieth century polymer chemists designed much improved photoresist formulas. This allowed etching by highly corrosive etchants and allowed batch repeatability.

In the 1950s Kodak brought out a resist that was based on a pre-sensitised poly (vinyl cinnamate), which gave the birth to the Photochemical machining (photoetching) industry. The only draw back with this resist was that it used as its solvent Xyaline. The next big break through in resists came with the introduction of dry films which allowed processing with out solvents.

 Aquatint uses acid-resistant resin to achieve tonal effects.
Soft-ground etching uses a special softer ground. The artist places a piece of paper (or cloth etc in modern uses) over the ground and draws on it. The print resembles a drawing.
Relief etching. Invented by William Blake in about 1788; from 1880-1950 a photo-mechanical ("line-block") variant was the dominant form of commercial printing for images. A similar process to etching, but printed as a relief print, so it is the "white" background areas which are exposed to the acid, and the areas to print "black" which are covered with ground. Blake's exact technique remains controversial. He used the technique to print texts and images together.
 
Aquatint is a variation in which particulate resin is evenly distributed on the plate, then heated to form a screen ground of uniform but less than perfect density. After etching any exposed surface will result in a roughened (i.e. darkened) surface. Areas that are to be light in the final print are protected by varnishing between acid baths. Successive turns of varnishing and placing the plate in acid create areas of tone difficult or impossible to achieve by drawing though a wax ground.

Engraving and etching have been used in printing for hundreds of years. Before the invention of modern, photographic-based techniques, they were the most commonly used method for reproducing images. 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.