Hard Ground Etching

Hard ground is an acid-resistant wax that is put evenly all over the copper plate. Place the copper plate on a flat surface covered with newspaper. With a square paint brush coated in liquid hard ground, paint the ground on the copper evenly and thinly from left to right, top to bottoem. If any bubble occur, just try and blow them out, or give a touch up with a thin brush after the ground has dried (approx. 20min). An etching needle is used to draw through the ground, exposing the copper that will be etched. Draw lightly and loosely (as with a pencil), thereby only removing the ground and not scratching into the plate as you would with an engraving. Anything can really be used to remove the wax ground - pencil, roulette wheel, wire brush, paint brush with varsol on, etc. When the plate is put into the acid bath only the parts of the plate that have had the ground removed will etch. The areas will then trap the ink and print as a positive mark.