Signing dating art prints
The paper picks up the ink from the etched lines, making a print.
The process can be repeated many times; typically several hundred impressions (copies) could be printed before the plate shows much sign of wear.
Jacques Callot (1592–1635) from Nancy in Lorraine (now part of France) made important technical advances in etching technique.
He developed the échoppe, a type of etching-needle with a slanting oval section at the end, which enabled etchers to create a swelling line, as engravers were able to do.
In a number of modern variants such as microfabrication etching and photochemical milling it is a crucial technique in much modern technology, including circuit boards.
In traditional pure etching, a metal (usually copper, zinc or steel) plate is covered with a waxy ground which is resistant to acid.
The plate is inked all over, and then the ink wiped off the surface, leaving only the ink in the etched lines.
Prior to 1100 AD, the New World Hohokam independently utilized the technique of acid etching in marine shell designs.Apart from his prints, there are two proven examples of his work on armour: a shield from 1536 now in the Real Armeria of Madrid and a sword in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nuremberg.