M etal plates are normally used for intaglio printing. These may he copper, zinc, steel, magnesium or other metal, but cardboard, wood or plastic have recently also been employed. Various lines, dots, or other indentations are etched, scratched or engraved into the plates to create a design.
Printing ink is forced into the indentations.
Superfluous ink is first removed with gauze and then usually the palm of the hand, so that only a thin film of ink, or no ink at all, is left on the surface of the plate. A sheet of paper which has been moistened to make it malleable is laid upon the etching plate and then several woollen or felt blankets are placed over the paper. The solid steel bed, the etching plate, the paper and the blankets are run under high pressure between the two large cylinders of the etching press forcing the paper into the indentations where it picks up the ink. Thus the design is transferred from the plate onto the paper. The composition on the plate will print as a mirror image, so the design must be drawn in reverse of the desired final result.