Etching and Island International Artist's Black Raven Press

Recently we have made changes to our plate developing process.  The first change we made is that we have shifted from zinc to copper.   Second, we are now etching our plates with an Edinburgh etch solution instead of nitric acid.  The mixture of the new etching bath is made from Ferric Chloride (iron + salt) and food grade citric acid, it is an improvement over straight ferric chloride which has deficiencies in etching metals.  The the main advantage to using this new process is that it uses an electro-chemical reaction instead of a chemical reaction, this eliminates the gassing of the plate while it is being etched, which is a known hazard to artists using the acid etch process. Third, we are now using non-toxic acrylic stop outs and grounds to protect the plate when it is being etched. The older materials were volatile petroleum based liquids. The advantages over older processes are related to artist safety.  Most are water or alcohol based so are much less hazardous to artists using them.