Is it possible for someone to purchase my acid etched metal plates and print them? I get this question often. People rarely understand how an etching works exactly, how the acid on the metal, gets color onto paper. And so when they ask that question, I figure, or hope, they do so out of protectiveness. For my sake. So as not to water down my brand. Is that naive? I don’t think most people are looking to print them theirselves. Are they?

The answer to their question is, no. I make these as open bite aquatint designs to enhance the metal but it doesn’t create texture. Plus, in order to create the texture needed to print any shade, color or shape takes a long time in the acid. These develop patina fast and I take them out when they look best, around a minute in the acid bath, they are far too shallow for creating nice prints, if anything at all. So it’s perfectly safe for these to go out into the world.