How to Etch with White Vinegar (Kitchen Lithography Variation) 

For those wondering why so much trouble was spent when 'just draw on the paper directly' would do just as well, this is ART people! It's a process that's not practiced by many anymore. This used to be the only way to make pictures, photos, etc. I took a printmaking class in college and found it very interesting. Lots of fun and educational as well.

This is a 5 century old technology! although it's is great to see that people are still learning these technics to keep history alive!

Mate, great demonstration of a crude but effective method of lithography. To the (why didn't you just draw it on the paper first?) negative and ignorant bellends giving you grief bellow, this is a method used to reproduce exactly the same image more than once, over and over, so that monks didn't have to hand write every page of the bible, or whatever other information that needed to be disseminated. This dude is simply showing you the basis of lithography, ie that oil and water don't mix. The vinegar etch is required to produce an anodised surface that is hydrophilic, and will shed the oily ink when dampened with water. Prior to lithography, printing was a much more labour intensive process (letterpress or relief) where the image and none image areas were differentiated physically, rather than chemically, and had to be either cut into wood, or cast in a lead alloy. Like many inventions, lithography was discovered by accident, by a gentleman, Alois Senefelder, and is in use today.

I took lithography in college and loved the chemistry. This is a great reminder and a good way to do it at home. Thank you for sharing.

Let's see... vinegar? check. oil? check. sponges? check. Professional floor-model etching press? Hmmm... Not under the sink... Not in the pantry... Not hanging from the pot rack...

The thought came to mind while watching: we're in far too big a hurry these days. Thank you so very much!

great vid, great tutorial. Just like my printmaking class in college. The negatve comments below are very odd. The idea of printmaking is the ability to create a series of the same or similar images, using artist pigments and materials. What you get out of a printer is just a mixture of the 4 same colors (cyan magenta yellow and black). When you do printmaking you have an incredible world of colors (ie pigments, literally clumps of minerals and such) each with their own reflective properties, opacity, vibrancy, not to mention to chemistry of mixing them. Print out a van gogh and hold it up to the real painting, big difference. Same is true of even the most simple line drawings in black and white litho. You can't reproduce the real oil based, PERMANENT ink on the paper with a printer, nor can you ever get the incredible minute details no matter how fine you DPI is. Another fun bit about prints from a traditional process vs a printer, you can get small variations in the prints when done traditionally. These variations can actually give a certain life to each one. If printed from a printer, the only variation you'll get is unwanted, unless it's those cool color bars when one of the inks goes out, but thats just an abstraction of the point ;). But indeed, one does not need "talent" to do printmaking. Draw a bunch of squiggles, it'll look cool. Expirment. Have fun.

Some comments are by people who just do't get it..It's the process that makes it interesting especially if you know anything about lithographic printing. Good job...really enjoyed it..

Love seeing the old craft, but it makes me grateful for the photocopier.

LOL - How to etch using white vinegar, aluminium kitchen foil and oh yeh, a lithography press, because everyone has one of those lying around!

Thank you for sharing this video. I believe the purpose was for demonstrating the method and technique.

That worked well. For all the people that posted uninformed comments, this is just a quick sample to show the process. Etching plates are more expensive than just a sheet of tin foil. I have a BFA from KCAI. I think you can do litho on clay art boards and litho crayons with a similar sort of process. Let's see someone find a lithostone and the process to do that. (That's why I switched from printmaking to painting as my major.) I've seen rollers used to make flat sheets of ceramic clay that might be cost effective maybe, I've never tried to see the prices of those.

Really, people? "I would have just drawn it on the paper" commenters need to get educated. Drawing it on the paper would then be a drawing and not a print. You want one drawing or many prints of the same drawing? Great tutorial jjewelart. Very helpful for real artists trying to make a go of it on a shoe string budget. And for those of you that don't have a press, I saw another video where this woman used a hand roller as a press for her print to show the difference between hand printing and using an etching press. I am going to try a heavy marble rolling pin to see if it will yield comparable results. I think the video was by Akua Printing.

I'm extremely grateful for this excellent demonstration. Thank you. I tried the cola method with no luck, blamed myself for buying cheap cola rather than Coke. Never mind, vinegar is a much better option and I'm not tempted to drink it.

Very cool. I love how he showed how to use vinegar and oil to not destroy the foil. I see people using their hands all the time because they can't think of anything or they just crumple it up and throw it away.

*WELL DONE!* I have no artistic ability nor will probably ever do this but your video was *very informative* for someone like me that enjoys just learning random stuff. Thanks!!

Oh I love this. I cant wait to do it with my 3rd graders. We are trying every "safe" printmaking technique we can. Thanks!

I'm amazed by the amount of people here who clearly missed the point with comments like, "Print at the store for 10 cents...Draw on paper..." will you do some online research and visit some galleries and get a clue before you make opinions devaluing the artistic process?

I was so excited to see this being done in your kitchen with basics. Can't wait to try my own. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing this! I'm always looking for more enviro friendly ways to make prints and this is a great process! I think it would also serve as a terrific introduction to lithography for my school students. Thank you 😊

This a very nice video. Yes, you could have drawn the image, but you were demonstrating how to produce an etching print. I'm going to try this. Thank you.

OMG! Why have I never seen this before?! Fantastic methodology! Thank you so very much for posting this.

brilliant! I didn't realise I could wash off the veg oil just with water, once the plate is wet. I'll be braver now.. and I really like your drawing, too.

Start as a "aluminum salad" and end as a noodle maker. So nice! Hi from Argentina!

That is really clever! I never realized Vinegar was aggressive enough to get that deep an impression! Will have to try that! I wonder if a pasta machine would work to roll it through if we don't have a printing press?

I don’t understand all the negative comments. Great video. I shall be trying out on copper shim

Well you can say all the negative things you want to. But the video got 16700+and. Counting views...... It an art that any real craftsman would understand.

I have a litho my aunt made for me and I always wondered what the process was -- thanks for posting -- it was very interesting.

Mindblown :0 he trabajado la litografia tradicional con las piedras asi mismo con las planchas de zinc, pero me he quedado sin palabras. Gracias por el video, impresionate. Sublime.

Very nice. I want to try this soon. I've watched several of these and like the use of white vinegar better. The foil idea is way less expensive than etching plates and definitely less annoying than those big litho stones!

How you applied the image, and with what ink before you started the rest would have helped.

Very interesting to see that whole process in action. I guess you now have a plate of your art which you can ink over and over again, making x amount of printings, kind of like wood block prints? I always love the look of prints. Thank you for sharing!

Hmmm.🤷‍♀️ I'm just an old lady that stumbled on this, so if you will please forgive my very humble opinion...I've met a few like you. My stepfather ran a printing department for a hospital organization in Chicago. Printers are a fun bunch of guys! Creative and artistic. Science and math with beauty. Grew up highly respectful of the field. The guys like you don't get to keep their ring finger on their left hand for long. Not only the experience as a kid, I'm a retired rescue paramedic. The way your hands were on the press almost made my heart skip a beat waiting to hear a call for a "white male/ traumatic amputation" with my PTSD. I support your artistic skills, you're brilliant, BUT...SAFETY FIRST.

Pretty cool. I took 2 years of print making in college but never thought of a Rube Goldberg method like this. It might have been better to enplane the purpose of an acid etch and oil resist etc. because lithography chemistry and methods are a bit hard to grasp at first. Way different from the huge and heavy litho stones I used to lug around the studio.

Great demo!

For the trolls, dont let the printing press stop you! You can use a wooden spoon or a rolling pin with pressure you'll be fine.

I like the look of the final product!

Ohhhhh! That is so cool! Now, I have an alternative to ferric acid and copper plate. Yay!

This is awesome... i am fed up using cola, so will give the vinegar a try.

This technique is a great!. I've tried litho with stones and it's really heavy to deal with. I will definitely try this method. Thanks for share!

I wish to know how you made the drawing on the aluminum foil, please.

Where did the image come from in the first place I must have missed that part duh!

because the puppy was a demonstration... the piont of this is that u can make a more complex matrix and copy it several times in different sizes and kinds of paper... lots of artists make this to sell many original drawings for lower price... or make a limited edition that goes more expensive, since once u destroy the matrix, u cant get the exact drawing again... he is just showing the technique, but you can give it a more meaningfull purpose... sorry for bad english, im not a native speaker :P

seriously interesting but so much more patience required than I have, wow!

Thank you so much for sharing! I followed the other RU-vid videos using Cola and never succeed.…Will try your method. Hope I can succeed for at least one time before I give up kitchen litho.--printmaking beginner.

Looks like a pain-in-the-ass to me !!! Would have been easier just to print by hand and copy on a printer.

Love this video! I couldn`t do the Etching technique because my school doesn`t provide it for safety reasons. But with this easy to go!

Very interesting! Demonstrating a few processes super clearly!

FANTASTIC!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WITH US! A HUG FROM DENMARK

Wow, amazing!!! I used to do lithography, but not any more since I don't have stones and press. I think you should try offset printing plates instead of aluminium foil. It's thicker than foil and it could be easier to work on it. Me and my friends did a lot of dry points on that offset plates. I should try this "kitchen lithography" also. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Interesting video, thank you. I believe that the gum arabic contained in cola is important in the inking up process later, although the chemistry eludes me at the moment!

Thanks, good way to learn principles of lithography.

Nice demo on how much work it really is

The point is printing... like any printing, you are making a mirror copy... you can reink this many times and make many copies. Like printing with block printing, screen printing, lithography, etching... any kind of printing. He drew with litho crayons which he showed at the start of the video. They are like grease crayons. They come in different hardnesses, and are oily. When they are on the foil and you etch it, the oil protects the metal. Then after, the ink only sticks to where the oil was.

If you need to speed up the etching try: 1. heating the vinegar; 2. swirl or agitate dish 3. Adding un-iodized salt and fresh hydrogen peroxide (hair salon version is strongest) This method is used by electronic hobbyist to etch copper printed circuit boards.

all that for that? Jesus Christ guess I'll never get back the 7:51 I spent watching this video!

The prices are about the same here in the USA, however, white vinegar is re-useable, and therefore more cost efficient. So, you can etch many plates with the same white vinegar, but once you've spent the soda, it's gone.

You left out so many details I can't imagine anyone making a print based on your instructions.

actually you can extract the drawing in a indirect way, if you really need. you can scan the printed paper, softaware treat it intil you have a black and white image(without shades of gray), them you print in an acetate sheet, them you put the acetate sheet over a aluminium foil, and using a clothes iron you heat it transfering the (solid) ink to the aluminium. retoush with a black marker and you are ready to go.

Looks like you spared no expense

No, only gum arabic. All parts painted with gum arabic will repel the ink once the gum arabic has been removed.Only the non-painted areas retain the ink. Remember, lithography is a relief printing process. So, the gum arabic is only etching the plate that it makes contact with. All other areas should retain the ink, in theory.

Thanks for the video! This method is super accessible to the high school classroom. We've got a press, thankfully, but using easily obtainable supplies makes it very affordable!

Cool. Amazing. Never seen that before. Thanks for posting.

That was a pretty good tutorial. I enjoyed knowing the process. Although I think he took a little long between steps but other than that was very interesting. I paint with oils, acrylics and airbrush art but was always curious about printing and lithography. This is great if you are trying to create many prints. I actually like this better than screen printing.

I don't have that big roller thiny in my kitchen.... enjoyed the video... you had fun!

Lamento que não tem legenda em português .Adorei mas como não entendo nada em inglês . Achei muito interessante. Muito obrigada. Sucesso.

Thanks so much. REALLY EASY. people, you don"t need a Press. Stop with the wise guy comments, Its okay to be happy.

I understand what you're trying to do. I have not tried it myself, or even thought about it, but since you brought it up. I think what went wrong with your experiment is that by painting soda onto the plate, you deal with losing the etching strength from the evaporation. What I suggest would be to use gum arabic as your medium to paint the image with. This will only etch the areas painted, and the rest of the plate in theory should be inked. Let me know what happens. I'll give it a try myself.

I did lithography and etching at University for an art credit, and still have the plates, but it never ocourred to me that I could DIY the process at home with alu foil and vinegar! That's totally cool! I was thinking a rolling pin with a lot of pressure woud work for the "press"...? Since the foil is so thin, I bet it sticks down and isnzt likely to slip around under the paper. Anyideas for DIYing the litho ink?! For the millenials who just want to scan and print, art existed before electricity and will exist after the last EMP. Study up now, cause when the SHTF your printer will be "off".

Great video. I would have liked to see more of the pint set-up as well.

would this work on copper plate?

There are several craft die, embossing machines that you may be able to use, that many paper crafters own.

Well watching this is time I’ll never get back!

I have a much smaller pasta machine in my kitchen. Would it still do the job?

I love this video! But I have questions: 1) What was the backing plate you put the foil on before running it through the press? 2) Do you think a jeweller's rolling mill could be used as a lithographic press? (don't have one of those in my kitchen) 3) Was the paper treated in any way (i've been reading about damp paper... does it have to be damp?) 4) Anything special about the paper? 5) Why does the ink only stick to the etched area if everything is wet? 6) how much pressure on the press? Thanks

Thankyou for posting an accessible form of engraving/ litho printmaking, I'm plannng to try this method very soon using my X cut (die cut machine) as the press. I just need to get some litho crayons first, although I was wondering if any oil based crayons would work, I guess oil pastels would be too soft but think I have some hard pastels somewhere that might be oily. I like experimenting anyway - so always worth a try.

Very neat. Thanks!

Maybe I don't have much imagination or maybe I don't understand a practical (or impractical) use for this BUT it was definitely interesting to watch

Armour Etching Cream - I would have designed, cut, applied the vinyl to the glass, and then applied and washed off the cream within this same time... Takes less products, costs less and without all of that vinegar it smells so much better too...

How do I print the image using a spoon? I cannot afford a press and I am a beginner.

So you skipped the part of creating your design?

awesome job iv never screen this done before i cant wait to try it thanks a million for posting i look forward to watching more videos from you in the feature

I would just draw it on the paper to start with.

so much effort, so many steps and such an anti-cliactic result ~

These commenters obviously have no idea what the art of printmaking is all about. I thought this was an awesome video. It makes me want to build a press and start printmaking again. Nice job!

interesting way to print...Thanks. .

What type of pen or pencil do you use to draw on the aluminium foil? thanks

I want to try this!

Wow. Amazing technique!!

Very good, thank you for the video. Will try, but as I don't have a press, will use a pile of books. Hope it works. Cheers!

The point of lithograph, or any printmaking, is that it can be repeat to make multiple copies of the original drawing.

Thanks for sharing that with us

Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful litho technique. I've been using it for some time, and have gotten it to work consistently. My print mentor and I have found that you can erase by dabbing Formula 409 on a cotton swab, but haven't found a way to make additions after etching. I've had very little issue with scumming using the vinegar, and have used apple cider as well as white vinegar. I have been able to print on a wringer press and with a wallpaper seamroller. It really works! I will be teaching this in my printmaking class, and would love to give you full credit if you would like. I need a name to do this, unless you just want me to use jjewelart. Would appreciate a reply if possible.

Thank you for this posting! I took lithography a few years ago, using stones. Can I copper plate to do this? Where did you get your press from?

There is a small letterpress available for domestic use that you can use with a basic die-cutting machine like a BigShot. I should imagine this would work with that. (A5 kinda size. It's just called L Letterpress and is made by the same company that make the Epic die-cutter.

Hi, I treid to do this, but the oddest thing happened.I substituted a few things: instead of litho crayon I used a china marker, instead of sunflower oil, I used coconut oil and instead of etching ink I used speedball oil miscible relif ink. So what happened was that after soaking it in vinegar and dampening it and then applying oil, the image just literally came off. I'm not sure if the grease pencil didn't work, but it came all off, and a little flakes too. The water was muddy. there was no ghost image at all. then I tried to coat it with relief ink, and the ink did NOT stick to the areas where the drawing was, in fact, I got an inverse of the drawing. The problem was when I wanted to remove the ink, because it was water miscible, it basically all came off. I know I need oil based etching ink that is not water miscible but how did I get the inverse of the image? Is the grease pencil a nono substitute for a lithography pencil?

Can anyone tell me is he using a special pen? Or will any old marker or ball point do? Tia! This is fascinating!

Very cool, might use soda just cause I like vinegar for cooking. But have loads of it so why not.

that was cool. I might try this with my art work. thanks for the video

Wow! Very cool. I will definitely have to give this a try now! :)