Puffin
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framed dimension: 10 x 11 in.
edition: 3/50
Engraving is an intaglio process. The artist incises into a metal plate directly with a stylus. When the plate is inked and a print is made, the lines in the image appear where the ink is trapped in the incisions the artist made. In Silverberg’s case, his delicate, highly detailed coloured engravings revive the use of the classic burin, a tool used in engraving, which dates back to the 1400s.
Intaglio is a collective name for the process of printing from an image incised into a plate. In the intaglio process, the entire plate is covered with colour (usually ink) and then wiped clean however the ink remains in the incisions. The plate is then pressed against paper with great pressure and the image is printed where ever the incisions have trapped the ink.
Some engravings are black and white; if the artist intends to make a coloured print, a different matrix is cut for each colour to be included in the final print.
Click here to read more about engraving.
