Mezzotint

TERRY KING (KINGNAPOLEONPHOTO@compuserve.com)
Mon, 26 Jan 1998 17:42:37 -0500

Message text written by INTERNET:petermarshall@cix.compulink.co.uk
>In large part these appear to have been made using photographs as a
reference by using tracing paper and a biro to transfer outlines, and then
working on the plate entirely by hand. One of the things I was wondering
looking at these was whether it was possible to use a controlled etching
process on the rocked mezzotint place with a variable thickness gelatine
layer to transfer a photograph - the etching should smooth the surface by
removing the peaks in a similar way to burnishing, thus lightening the
<

Would not the effect be rather similar to that obtained in the normal
processing of an aquatinted plate in photo-etching or photogravure ? I was
under the impression that the point of the mezzzotint was to obtain the
image by smoothing down the rocked surface.

Terry King