Ever since seeing the spectacular illustrations for Milton’s Paradise Lost, I have been quite taken by this 17th-century intaglio printmaking technique.

It involves a laborious process (10 hour+) of preparing the copper plate by creating thousands of ink-holding burrs across the surface using a tool called a rocker (pictured below). Then carefully scraping the design onto the plate. This is not a process for the impatient. 

Whilst spending some months living in Glasgow, I had the pleasure of learning from Stuart Duffin. Unlike most intaglio, mezzotint allows for beautiful tonal range. First print pictured left, more ambitious designs coming soon…