Inking

Now that the plate has been etched, it is ready to receive the ink. The whole plate on the image side it covered in ink that has been worked into a spreading consistency. Ink is pushed around the plate with scrim cloth and some is trapped in the etched lines of the image on the plate; this remaining ink will be transferred in the press to the dampened paper.

The excess ink is wiped off using paper, and specific areas of the plate where no tone is wanted are cleaned with marble dust.