Etching also has a long a rich history, but it is in many ways the reverse of woodcut. Woodcut is a relief process, in which the ink is rolled onto the surface and not into the lines; etching is an intaglio process, in which the ink is pushed into the lines and pits and wiped off the surface of the plate. A woodcut may be printed by hand or with a press. To print an etching the artist must use a printing press in order to create enough pressure to force the dampened printing paper down into the inked lines. Finally, where the woodcut is limited to black and white, the etching is capable of a subtle range of grays.

To create my etching plate I use a sheet of copper, which I cover with an acid-resistant wax. I draw through the wax with an etching needle and then immerse the plate in a mordant (either Ferric Chloride or Dutch Mordant.) The mordant bites into the metal wherever it is exposed, creating lines and marks which correspond to the lines drawn through the wax. The longer the plate is immersed in the mordant, the deeper and wider the lines in the copper, and the darker the lines which are printed on the paper. The plate can be returned to the mordant again and again, but each "dip" in the acid increases the chances that something can go wrong. (The ground can lift; lines can bite too deeply or not at all...) The process is much less direct than woodcut, and much is not under the artist’s control. Part of the excitement of etching is dealing with the element of the unexpected.