Sometimes The Media and/or The Tool Used to Create The Art Changes

Artistic traditions still abound in our technological age, although sometimes the media and/or the tool used to create the art changes. For example, etching is a form of decoration that has been around for over five hundred years. Originally this was a form of creation that involved pieces of metal that had been marked by acidic substances in specific designs or series of words. After this step was complete, the artist would then use the metal etchings to create prints with ink and paper and sometimes other media such as cloth or leather. Etching exists now although it is not normally practiced in the same way it was five hundred years ago. Acids are still used to create etchings in specific patterns and designs on metallic materials, although this is not a handmade product anymore. Now it is done by marking machines known as etching machines, which produce the same sort of products but en mass and with much less manpower and time necessary. In essence, etching is an art form that is much the same as it was in generations past, although now technology has taken it to a new level where the novelty and uniqueness of a handmade product is not the priority anymore. Although it remains a form of art, it is also a smart business model that saves and makes money at a greater rate then handmade work ever did. The current method of etching involves machinery that is usually one hundred percent automated, from the implementation of the acids onto the metal to the printing of the design with ink to various products. CNC machining programs allow one design to be set that is then repeated to perfection, often utilizing acids such as sodium hydroxide or nitric acid to create the patterns. Glass and stone are other products commonly etched, although they are not always used for printing purposes but sometimes mass produced as products in and of themselves. Source: markingmachinery.com