Michael employs various intaglio printmaking techniques, including etching, aquatint, drypoint, and a la poupee as well as hand-coloring (watercolor). These are all original prints and can be considered unique as no two are ever exactly alike. The artist's work on metal only comes to life as artwork when the print is made and carries with it all of the artist's intentions.
A print differs from a reproduction in that to make a reproduction, the original picture is photographed and the image is then burned onto a printing plate. The printing plate is put on a power driven press and hundreds or thousands of impressions are made during one run, all exactly the same. This method lacks the uniqueness found in the individually hand-pulled prints.
Etchings
Etching, from the German word, atsen, meaning to eat or corrode, is a process by which a design is eaten into metal by acid for the purpose of printing from it. The design is drawn with a needle through a layer of acid-resistant wax laid on a thin metal plate. The layer of wax is called a ground. The ground is removed, the ink rubbed into the lines, and a print taken by passing the plate covered with a sheet of paper through a roller press.
Drypoint
Drypoint, though often spoken of as etching, is, in reality, no such thing, as the lines on the plate are not eaten away by means of acid, but are cut by a sharp instrument (steel point, diamond, ruby or the like).
The peculiar beauty of the medium is dependent upon its power of yielding a wonderful velvety richness in the proof. This is due not to the groove which is cut below the surface, but to the "burr" or ridge thrown up by the passage of the tool under the lee of which the ink shelters from the rag, or hand, during the action of wiping the plate.
If, as is generally the case, the burr is left untouched, each line will print with a half-luminous ridge of tone at one or both sides, giving a richness of effect quite foreign to the pure etched line. Very few printings suffice to wear away the burr, which seldom lasts out more than thirty good impressions.
Aquatint
Rosin particles are dusted over a plate in the beginning of the aquatint process. Each of these particles will protect just enough of the plate so that when the plate is etched and printed, a tonal area will result.