Mezzotinting an intaglio printmaking method and is known for the demanding, challenging, and ultimately rewarding process involved in printing a piece. In very simple terms, the process invovles grinding the top layer of a copper plate with hand tools called "rockers" and burnishing away the ground edge to create negative space. This enables a printer to get a very dark velvety-black into their prints, and also lends itself to shading that can be almost photographic in its detail. Because a mezzotint works with that ragged texture, and the burnishing creates the image, it must be inked and printed carefully and sometimes cannot withstand large edition sizes.
This print "Solon, Iowa" is a 9 x 12 mezzotint printed on Copperplate (German Etching paper).
To learn more about the mezzotint process, check out Julie Niskanen's website. She's posted amazing pictures of the process, and a breif history.
http://www.julieniskanen.com/mezzotint.html
Or to see a video of the grinding process, check out this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NZvYlk1NZo
