Rubbing and frottage

A rubbing is made by laying paper on a surface with relief and passing ink or pencil over it, so the bumps and hollows appear on the paper. In Korea, tak-bon (rubbing) has traditionally been used on stone steles carved with text or patterns. In wet rubbing, the paper is first pressed to the stone with water and then tapped with an ink-loaded pad; the carved characters and lines take no ink and stay white. Dry rubbing uses no water: a solid ink stick is rubbed over the paper. Frottage applies the same method to making art. In 1925 Max Ernst laid paper over an old wooden floor and rubbed it with a soft pencil; the grain suggested strange images to him, and he published the drawings in 1926 as Histoire Naturelle.

Look at where an ink rubbing is left white and where it carries ink: in wet rubbing, carved characters and lines take no ink and stay white.