Etching is a term used to describe a type of print, but more specifically it defines the method by which the printing plate  was made. A thin, hard, acid-resistant coating or "ground" is applied to a metal plate usually copper or zinc. An image is drawn onto the plate with a needle, scratching through the ground, exposing the metal. These exposed areas "etch" when the plate is immersed in acid, incising the image into the plate. This process may be repeated numerous times, adding detail or shading, until the desired intensity of lines is achieved. The more the metal is exposed to the acid, the deeper the etch, the more ink that area will hold, and the darker it will print.

For printing, the ground is removed and ink is rubbed into the incised lines. With a cheesecloth-like material the excess ink is then wiped away so that only the etched areas retain ink. The plate is then placed on the bed of a printing press, with damp printing paper laid on top, and an array of felt pads atop that. When the press bed passes between two steel rollers, the pressure forces the damp paper into the inked etched line, transferring the image onto paper. The inking and wiping must be repeated each time a print is to be made.

Hand-tinting is an uncommon and often tedious adjunct to traditional printmaking, but a process which affords a more delicate and controlled effect than is possible using the more typical multiple colored plates. The tinting is done directly on each print, after the printing ink has dried, using watercolor or colored pencil.

Each print is assigned an edition number: 1/200 would indicate that the print is the first of 200 that the artist has reserved the right to print. When 200 have been printed, the plate is canceled by scratching an "X" across its front. Within the limited edition, the prints should be of consistent quality. With an etching, #1 should appear no better than #80. The numbers denote sequence and size of the edition only.