Aquatint
Aquatint is a special way of making a picture using acid and a metal plate. Imagine you have a big silver cookie sheet, like the ones your mom uses to bake cookies in the oven. But instead of using it for baking, we use it for making art.
First, we cover the whole sheet with a special powder that sticks to metal. This powder is called resin. Then we take a piece of paper with a picture on it and put it on top of the silver sheet. We put both of them together in a special box and close it.
Now comes the fun part. We spray a special liquid called acid all over the box. Acid is very strong and can hurt people, so we need to be very careful with it. The acid does not eat through the metal yet, because the resin powder is protecting it. But the acid eats through the paper and makes tiny dots where the picture is.
After a while, we take the paper off and wash the silver sheet. The resin powder stays on the metal, but the acid has eaten away some parts. Some parts have bigger holes than others, depending on how much acid they got. This is what makes the picture.
Now we can put ink on the silver sheet and wipe it off, so the ink stays only in the holes. Then we press this sheet on a piece of paper and make a print of the picture. It looks like a drawing, but it is not made with a pencil or a brush. It is made using acid and a piece of paper with dots. This is how aquatint works!
First, we cover the whole sheet with a special powder that sticks to metal. This powder is called resin. Then we take a piece of paper with a picture on it and put it on top of the silver sheet. We put both of them together in a special box and close it.
Now comes the fun part. We spray a special liquid called acid all over the box. Acid is very strong and can hurt people, so we need to be very careful with it. The acid does not eat through the metal yet, because the resin powder is protecting it. But the acid eats through the paper and makes tiny dots where the picture is.
After a while, we take the paper off and wash the silver sheet. The resin powder stays on the metal, but the acid has eaten away some parts. Some parts have bigger holes than others, depending on how much acid they got. This is what makes the picture.
Now we can put ink on the silver sheet and wipe it off, so the ink stays only in the holes. Then we press this sheet on a piece of paper and make a print of the picture. It looks like a drawing, but it is not made with a pencil or a brush. It is made using acid and a piece of paper with dots. This is how aquatint works!