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Tools and Materials

Tools:
  1. Polishing Stones- A stone used to sharpen burins, scrapers, and to polish etching needles. Always use oil.
  2. Etching Needle-  Long, thin, pointed steel tool used to draw through ground on an etching plate.
  3. Drypoint Needle-  A very sharp etching needle used for scratching directly into a plate.
  4. Burin-  Diamond shaped steel tool used to engrave a plate.
  5. Scraper-  3-sided steel tool. Edges can be sharpened and is used to scrape our draks/grays/texture from a plate before burnishing.
  6. Roulettes- 
  7. Hammer-  Used to straighten bent plate.
  8. Files- Use to bevel plate edges before printing.
  9. Flexible shaft/Dremmel Tool-  Use to manipulate a plate directly. A hand-held grinder can also work for larger plates.

 
Materials:
  • Cheap Art Box/Container ( A fishing tackle box works fine )
  • Zinc Plates
  • Etching Needle (also any other sharp, mark-making tools )
  • Scraper
  • Burnisher
  • Engraving Burins
  • X-Acto knife w/ plenty of blades
  • Straightedge
  • Masking tape
  • Apron
  • Protective gloves
  • Goggles - Eye Protection
  • Respirator - for organic vapors and acid gases
  • Citrus based hand cleaner
  • Brushes - soft china 2" CHEAP brushes for ground & assortment of small brushes
  • Black enamel spray paint
  • Wax paper
  • Tracing paper
  • Pad of Newsprint ( 18" x 24" or larger )
  • Notebook / Journal / Sketchbook
  • Basic drawing supplies ( Pencils, erasers, Sharpie Markers, litho crayons, etc. . . )
  • Blotters
  • Interleaving
  • Printmaking papers-  Arches Cover, Rives BFK, Lana Gravure, German Etching