About
Intaglio literally translates to ‘a design incised or engraved into a material’. Engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint and mezzotint are all different intaglio methods that can be used separately or combined.
Devfto offers workshop in the photo-intaglio technique.
Photo-intaglio print is one of intaglio printmaking techniques in which we use UV light to burn an image onto a light sensitive dry film photo-resist that is attached to a metal plate, commonly a copperplate. A piece of original artwork (photograph, drawing, collage, or whatever) is reproduced onto transparent or translucent film or paper, then exposed onto a light-sensitive plate. The emulsion on the plate hardens where it receives exposure and will resist acid in the etching process. It can be used with both hand-drawn and photographic imagery. In both cases the process involves using a “positive” on clear film which is contacted against a metal plate covered in a light sensitive emulsion.
Where the UV light reaches the emulsion, it is hardened to form a non-printing area (or an acid resist), and where the light is blocked by the positive image, the emulsion remains soft and can washed away in an alkaline solution, reveal the recessed level of lines and shades of the image. The plate then can be dried and directly printed without etching the plate. This method is later known as non-etched intaglio type, which is non-toxic, thus safe to be used by the artists and environmentally friendly.