A pure stipple engraving will only use dots in the whole print, without a single solid line. Roulettes, small rollers with spikes were also designed and used to speed up the process. The sections are from Adam and Eve stipple-engraved by Francesco Bartalozzi after a painting by Thomas Stothard, c1800. This section shows how stipple provides a more subtle shading effect than do lines. Here the enlargement highlights the fairly even dots of the stipple tools.
Etchings differ mainly from engravings in that they allow a freer line to be made than engravings.
Since the engraver pushes the graver or burin away from herself, there is much less spontaneity in the print, than in an etching, which can be freely moved in any direction. Etchings are usually made from a copper plate dipped in an acid bath. Before this, however, the plate must be prepared with a ground, that is then made black by being held over candles. This makes the copper lines gleam as they are drawn across the plate with an etching needle. Then the back of the plate is coated with a stopper varnish to prevent it from dissolving away, and the plate is put into the acid.