Mezzotint

A relief printing method that reverses the engraving process. A metal plate is abraded with a special tool and is made to have an overall burr. It would print a solid soft black. The design is then made by smoothing the surface with a burnisher so that it will not print in the burnished areas. The name comes from the combination of the Italian words mezzo, meaning half, and tinta, meaning tone. This combination giving the word mezzotint, or halftone. This is the unique property of this method in that with varying degrees of burnishing, different degrees of darkness can be achieved. The main drawbacks to this method is the lack of fine detail and the labor of preparing the steel plate.