One Week Holiday Course | The Etching Week

On this course, students will learn various printmaking techniques to help them discover a new artistic vocabulary.

Printmaking and Etching

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Course details

Dates

12 January – 16 January 2026

Times

10:00 – 17:00

Duration

5 sessions

Fees

£445.00

Location

Shoreditch studios

Tutors

Maggie Jennings

Overview

The techniques of printmaking sometimes seem archaic and obscure. Why do we use wax, sugar, soap and strange mordants, and why is aquatint called the ‘lazy mezzotint’? These techniques were all originally devised to make print editions, but we will use them to discover a new vocabulary. Illustrated demonstrations will be given in etching, aquatint, drypoint, collagraph as well as monoprint. We can have fun creating coloured papers for chine collé, investigating two plate colour printing and experimenting with colour roll-ups. This course is suitable for beginners and advanced printmakers, with individual guidance and direction given to each student.

Please note: Our Print Room has limited access and etching involves using hazardous chemicals. The print room environment is not suitable for everyone. Etching classes are unsuitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women, those sensitive to chemicals or with breathing difficulties.

Who is it for

Beginners welcome. No experience of etching required.

What’s provided

For printmaking courses, a fully equipped intaglio print room is provided for students to work with etching, collograph and monoprint.

Plates and paper can be bought at just over the cost-price in the print room (card payments only). On average, most students usually spend between £10 - £20 for a 10 week course.

What to bring

You will need to wear apron and old clothes and bring ideas and source material with you.

Required materials include:

Basic drawing materials

Eraser
Nylon sable-type brush, between sizes 2 -6

Optional materials include:

Dry point needle or etching needle
Burnisher
Magnifying glass
Scraper

If you own etching tools please mark them with tape or coloured paint and bring them along.

Further material lists are provided a week before your course begins.

Concessions

Unfortunately, we do not offer concessions on our holiday courses.

All of our course rates are subsidised and we also offer a comprehensive concessions scheme on our term-time courses.

Tutors

Maggie Jennings

Tutor