INTAGLIO PRINTMAKING

Intaglio printing uses various methods of 'cutting' and image onto the surface of a metal plate. Once the plate is inked, the incised lines hold the ink whilst the rest of the plate is wiped clean. The plate, in contact with damp paper, is passed through a roller press under pressure. The paper is forced into the sunken areas to receive the ink.The inked lines on the finished surface are often slightly raised and there is generally a visible line around the image where the plate has been pressed into the paper, called the platemark. The presence of a platemark is a good way of telling an intaglio print from a relief or planographic print. Engraving, etching, drypoint, carborundum, aquatint and mezzotint are the most common types of intaglio printmaking. Many printmakers combine different intaglio techniques when they work on their plates and for this reason it is not unusual to see a contemporary print described simply as intaglio.