Ken Olin Etching

I began working for Ken Olin in 1971. He was the owner of "Olin's Art Shop". Mr. Olin took up painting at about 70 years old. He also acquired an etching press, and took up etching. Here is on of his prints of the "Oliver Viaduct", done about 1973. Etching is a very early printing process first used extensively by Rembrandt. A copper plate is covered with a tar-like coating, and the drawing is made on the plate with a pointed metal stylus, exposing the copper. The drawing must be done in reverse so that it prints correctly. The plate is then soaked in acid, which eats some of the exposed copper away. The tar is removed, and ink is applied, and the plate is wiped off. This leaves ink in the lines "etched" by the acid. Paper is placed on the plate, and both are rolled through 2 heavy steel rollers. Etching can also be a much more complicated process, using multiple aligned plates for separate colors, and other techniques can be used to draw on the plates, and the plates can be re-coated, and  re-worked. Etching is one of the "lost arts" of our time. You may also recall the infamous phrase that famed artist Louis Icart said to one of his models, "Come upstairs and see my etchings".