À la poupée (literally, “with the doll”) describes a method of
inking intaglio prints in which two or more inks of different
colors are selectively applied to different parts of a single
copperplate. The inked plate is then printed in a single pass
through the press. The method takes its name from the poupée
(doll), the small ball-shaped wad of fabric that is used to ink
the plate. Aquatint is a tonal printing process. The preparation
for aquatint consists of a porous ground, usually created by
sprinkling powdered rosin liberally and evenly over a
copperplate and then heating the plate from below to liquefy the
powder and fuse it to the copper. When this prepared copperplate
is dipped into an acid etching bath, the minute irregularities
in the ground allow the acid to bite into the plate in an
overall pattern that, when inked, prints as tone. Burnishing is
the scraping away of roughened areas on a plate with a piece of
either curved or straight hardened steel. The tool is called a
burnisher. Drypoint is an in