repoussage means the art or process of hammering out or pressing thin metal from the reverse side, either to produce decorative work or to level up part of an etched plate that has been worked so as to cause a depression. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
repoussage is pronounced /ɹəˈpuːsɑːʒ/.
Why “repoussage” is a great word
REPOUSSAGE — [Noun] The art or process of hammering or pressing thin metal from the reverse side to create decorative work or to level a depressed area on an etched plate. From French repoussage, from repousser ("to push back"), from re- ("again, back") + pousser ("to push"), ultimately from Latin pulsare ("to push, beat"). Unlike repoussé, which names the finished, ornamented object, or chasing, which refines the front with precise, incising strokes, repoussage is the foundational, generative act of working from behind. It is the percussive coaxing of a bowl's curve from a cold silver disc, the patient restoration of a flattened line on a copper etching plate, the slow emergence of a lion's mane from the unmarked underside of brass—a quiet testament that the shape of what we see is often determined by pressure applied from the unseen.
noun
- The art or process of hammering out or pressing thin metal from the reverse side, either to produce decorative work or to level up part of an etched plate that has been worked so as to cause a depression.