Living Prints Engraving On-line

Cutting paper, scoring plate

The design was traced from the master on tracing paper. The tracing paper is taped to the polished copper plate, face-down. The ink lines are visible from the back, and this makes it easy to cut through the paper along the traced guidelines. The knife tip is sharp, hard steel and scores into the copper plate surface.

The scored line is a fine, burred line; that is, copper is not cut away, but a burr results from the cut, like a line drawn in sand leaves a ridge on the sides. If it were printed now, it would be a drypoint. But in this instance the technique is merely to transfer the design to the copper and prepare it for engraving.

There are many other ways to accomplish the same thing. For example, carbon paper, electro-print transfers, etching and, of course, freehand. You might get as many different answers to the question, "How do you transfer a design to the plate?" as there are the number people doing engraving!

Left: The artist in this instance wanted to use a plot from a calculus exercise. He traced the exercise with a ball-point pen on tracing paper. Note that he is cutting shapes out one section at a time, explaining that otherwise he might overlook a line here and there.

You may have come in part-way into the plate-making process. Select highlighted words to skip ahead or back to earlier steps. Visit the pages of the people below, and come back to see the progression of the engraving as their snapshots and explanations are completed on-line.

	Curator's Log	The curator is seldom seen but is always seeing to it that the living prints' records are correct and rules followed.
	Artist's Diary	The artist provides the vision and imagery of the living print, laboring after the compelling image.
	Printer's Notes	The printer performs many tasks to keep prints alive, crafting and designing solutions to problems the artist, curator and publisher propose.
	Publisher's Journal	The publisher produces the bases for living prints by supporting all the players and keeping communications clear and on course.
	Professor's Papers	The professor explains the living print, the history of printmaking, and keeps the academic community informed.