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PETER GARBERA (Etchings)

An etching is made by coating a thin, polished copperplate with dark wax to make an acid-resistant ground, through which the drawing is scratched with a sharp needle, exposing the bare metal surface underneath. The plate is then bathed in nitric acid that etches the lines into the copper. The depths of these grooves varies with the strength and duration of the bath. The biting is usually by stages: after a brief immersion the etcher will apply a protective coating to the plate until it is time to protect the less delicate lines, and so on. Garbera often combines a number of different techniques on one set of plates, such as aquatint, drypoint or engraving.

In addition to the basic black-line plate, a color etching employs a separate plate for each additional color. The artist inks the plates by hand and prints them on the same paper one after the other, the black-line plate being the last. The lines from each plate must fit perfectly on top of another to create a clear impression.