“Mermaid” 1987 intaglio print by Stephanie Ann
Johanson ·
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‘Intaglio printing’ refers to any of various printing techniques, such as aquatint, metal engraving and etching. An etched or engraved plate is smeared with ink, the surface wiped clean, and the ink in the recesses then transferred to the paper.
The mermaid print above was produced by scratching the design onto a piece of Plexiglas, smearing several different colours of oil based inks into the scratches, wiping away the excess and running the plate and a damp piece of high rag count paper, through a press. The press pushes the paper down into the scratches and picks up the ink. Because it was done with Plexiglas and not metal, there aren’t as many useable prints per plate, and because the inking is done by hand, each print is uniquely different.