Etching House Information

Etching House believes Norman Lindsay was amongst the best etchers in the world, Garry Shead is clearly a brilliant etcher and plate maker, his oil paintings are self-explanatory, simply brilliant, and this led Etching House to be dedicated to Norman Lindsay, Garry Shead, Lionel Lindsay as well as some other master etchers. Continuing, there are various methods of needling a plate, too involved to be discussed in a brief note such as this. The method employed in the etchings here has been to etch out the fine grey tones first, and by a series of re-etching to add the half-tones and blacks. The etching itself is done by placing the plate in a solution of dilute nitric acid which bites only into the parts of the copper exposed by the needling. While in the acid it is carefully timed by Norman Lindsay, and this is the most anxious problem he has to face, for if he miscalculates he may either under-etch or over-etch the passage in the acid, and thereby ruin the result of a week or more of careful work in needling the design. No amount of experience can give him assurance over his timing. He may have got a hard copper plate which etches slowly or a soft one which etches too quickly. The acid is constantly weakening as it works on the plate, and Norman Lindsay must keep adding fresh acid to try and keep it at an even strength. Having no means of testing its strength, he must trust to luck or cunning on equal terms to get the result he wants, and he can only be sure of that by wiping off the ground and taking a proof of the plate. If the result is a failure he has no resource but to discard the plate and start all over again with a fresh one. If the result of the first proofing is satisfactory he re-cleans and reground the plate and sets about working on the next section to be etched, and so on, proving and re-grounding as he goes till the plate is finally completed. If the technique employed is one dealing with delicate tones and elaborate detail he may be a couple of months over one plate; and that he may discard ...