OK, step 3. Once you have what you want on your plate, you put it into the acid. The darker you want the lines, the longer you leave it in the acid. The asphalt is stopping the acid from eating away at the rest of the plate.

After the plate is done in the acid, of course, wash it off. Then, coat the plate with a thin layer of etching ink.

As Prof. Fiely says "Wipe lightly but repeatedly". This part takes some time. You want the ink to go down into the lines that the acid ate away, but you still want a clean surface. So depending on how big your plate is, you could be doing this for 15 minutes. It tends to get a little tedious but when you start to see your image appear, it's pretty cool.

Finally, you get to make a print! Lay the plate face up on the printing press. Also, you'll want to have your paper soaking in water for a few minutes, blot and lay it over the plate. The water in the paper helps to pull the ink out of the plate. Lay felt over the paper and run it through the press...

and there you have it... a print. How exciting right? Well this one needs a lot of work yet... so there will be more pictures to come. these are just the basics though. It is a LONG process to make a good piece, but thats what i really enjoy about printmaking. it's all about the process.