The five plates that make up this remarkable print were first created in 1984 in the Paris workshop of master printer Aldo Crommelynck and were each published separately as The New French Tools. Dine revised two of the plates in 1985 by adding hearts above the tools, and then printed the two plates together on one sheet as Tools and Dreams. In 2007, Dine reworked all five of the plates-replacing the hearts with hammers-to create The Five Hammer Etudes. The French term étude, or study, pays homage to the Frenchman Crommelynck, who recently retired. Dine has retrieved over 130 plates from the workshop for future reworking. Since The Five Hammer Etudes was printed last year, Dine reports he has already revisited these plates.