Love Lundell, Free Hugs, 2018
Drypoint is a printing technique where a design is drawn on a metal plate whit a sharpe pointed tool. The result is a small edition of prints with a distinctive velvety look.
This type of print is an intaglio printmaking method that involves scratching an image into a bare metal printing plate with a pointed tool, often a diamond-pointed needle.These scratches create incisions in the metal plate and at the same time a rough ridge of metal is thrown up on each side of the line creating a so called burr.
When ink that has been applied to the plate is wiped off both the incised line and specifically the burr receive ink, giving the printed line a characteristically fuzzy and velvety look. Owing to the delicate nature of the burr, drypoint is usually made in small editions, stopping before the burr is crushed by the pressure of the intaglio press.
Drypoint is often combined with other intaglio techniques, such as etching and has been in use since the late 15th century. Its greatest master was Rembrandt van Rijn, in whose etchings drypoint became increasingly prominent. A more recent example of an artist who, from time to time, works whit this printmaking method is Love Lundell.