Laser engraved etching
Following a career building online technology for the art world, Peter Chater has developed new methods of creating etching plates using a laser engraver which he will be sharing on this website.
His methods allow artists to create hand-printed etchings from digital drawings or scans, rather than using grounds and acid or photogravure with UV-sensitive plates.
The resulting etching plates are then inked, wiped and printed on an etching press in the traditional way, resulting in a hand-printed artwork with all the characteristics of traditional etchings.
On this website, you can view examples of Peter’s work and learn more about how he makes his etchings.
About Peter Chater
Peter Chater is one of the two founders of Artlogic, the website and art inventory platform used by art galleries and artist studios throughout the world. After a long absence, Peter returned to printmaking in early 2025.
Noticing a YouTube video appear on his feed about the use of laser engravers for making jewellery, Peter wondered if it might be possible to use similar techniques for creating etching plates. Having invested in a laser engraver and after many months of experimentation, Peter created a reliable technique for making laser-engraved etching plates on polished aluminium sheets.
Peter occasionally works with scans of drawings made on paper but mostly he creates drawings on a digital tablet. The flexibility of this workflow and the ease of sending a drawing to the laser is something that he is keen to share with other artists.
Most of his work depicts people caught in fleeting moments, in an attempt to capture the same immediacy as street photography. He generally works from his own photographs but sometimes use other people’s selfies where the subject presents themselves as they wish others to see them. Peter builds tonal images by layering simple lines of a consistent width until the form takes shape.
Follow Peter on Instagram – @peterprintmaker.
Contact Peter Chater
Fill out some info and I’ll be in touch shortly. I look forward to hearing from you.