Mezzotint Scraper Handle

 

I made a set of mezzotint burnishers and a scraper many years ago, about 2005 I think, out of some silver-steel rod.

Up until now I've been using them in a graphite-stick holder, but I thought I might as well get on to making some permanent handles for them.

The scraper is the first out of the gate. I turned the handle out of a bit of beech dowel; it was once a broom handle I think.

This one is a burnisher, for polishing the scraped copper. The smoother the metal, the less ink it holds, and the whiter the resulting tone in the print.

Another burnisher, with a curved blade (that needs a bit of polishing, by the look of it). This time the handle is ash.