Etching with silver chine collé

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An intaglio technique that uses commercially developed photopolymer plates. A transparent positive is exposed to the plate, which has been pre-coated with a thin layer of light-sensitised polymer. When developed or ‘etched’ with water, a shallow image is produced on the plate with a subtle tonal range. Once inked-up, the plate is rolled through an etching press and the image transferred onto paper.
Chine collé is a printing technique in which thin pieces of fine tissue paper (in this case fine metallic leaf) are applied to the printing paper and then rolled through the printing press to secure them. The metallic leaf adds texture, colour and tone to the print.

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