Editing Etching (section)

==Printing==
[[File:Cylinder press at SCAD-Lacoste in Vaucluse, France.jpg|thumb|right|Cylinder press for printing etchings]] Printing the plate is done by covering the surface with [[printing ink]], then rubbing the ink off the surface with ''[[tarlatan]]'' cloth or newsprint, leaving ink in the roughened areas and lines. Damp paper is placed on the plate, and both are run through a [[printing press]]; the pressure forces the paper into contact with the ink, transferring the image (''cf.'', [[chine-collé]]). The pressure subtly degrades the image in the plate, smoothing the roughened areas and closing the lines; a [[copper]] plate is good for, at most, a few hundred printings of a strongly etched imaged before the degradation is considered too great by the artist. At that point, the artist can manually restore the plate by re-etching it, essentially putting ground back on and retracing their lines; alternatively, plates can be [[electroplating|electro-plated]] before printing with a harder metal to preserve the surface. [[Zinc]] is also used, because as a softer metal, etching times are shorter; however, that softness also leads to faster degradation of the image in the press.