A vernis mou etching is also known as a soft ground etching. To do this, I apply a wafer-thin wax-soft acid protectant to the heated printing plate (usually zinc). I then manually press flowers or plant parts into this “soft ground” using a special printing press, the surface structure of which lifts off the wax and exposes it for etching. The plate is then placed in a bath of nitric acid or ferric chloride for a few minutes. The result is a true-to-life reproduction of the object in astonishingly fine quality. It is also possible to draw free motifs into the soft ground - then a soft, painterly line is created using the same process. The depressions in the zinc plate are so fine that they are barely noticeable when you run your fingers over them. This means that only a small print run in good quality is possible.
