Thursday, 21 July 2016

July 19, 2016

I am taking the etching class by Regina Held, at New Grounds Print Workshop (July 19 - 22), while our Desert Triangle Print Carpeta exhibition runs in the gallery up front --  the Matrix Gallery of Albuquerque -- during the month of July.


I did a couple of small prints, to learn the process:


Line etch and aquatint--
4th State:
after a line etch
and 3 aquatints



Preparing the Copper Etching Plate


Measuring and marking with a Shapie,
to cut copper etching plates


Using a shear to cut down
the copper etching plates


Filing to round the edges
of the copper etching plates


Use the coarse file first,
and the fine file next


Filing is grueling



Backing the cooper etching plate
with good contact paper


Cleaning and deoxidizing
the copper etching plate surface
with steel wool

Applying the Ground


The "ground" was made from
blue tinted Pledge floor wax


Squirting the "ground"
onto the vertical etching plates




Letting gravity, and the angle,
drain off the excess ground


Drying


I drew one of the etching plates
from a model on the computer


A variety of etching drawing tools


Homemade Echoppe tool;
Takach Press ground off the tip
of an etching needle
at 45 degrees


Preparing the Paper




Fanning the smaller sheets,
and then measure and marking 
the back of each with a pencil,
before tearing


Let the paper soak in tap water
before printing
(if left in overnight,
the paper will develop iron stains)


Etching the Copper Plate


Attach the back of the copper plate
to a long piece of tape,
and lower it into the vertical etching bath
drawn surface face towards the acid bath


Plastic vertical etching tanks


Washing immediately stops the etching process


Clean the Pledge floor wax ground
off with a solution of soda ash


Spraying soda ash onto the plate


First deoxidize with vinegar and salt,
then degrease with Bon Ami


Spraying vinegar onto plate 
to deoxidize

Shaking salt onto the vinegar,
then rub into plate with sponge,
and rinse,
to deoxidize


Then shake Bon Ami onto plate,
and rub off with sponge
to degrease


Clean and ready
for inking


Printing

First spread some Akua intaglio ink
onto a glass plate
with a putty knife


Spread ink over surface of etched copper plate,
then scrap off,
all with a small square of cut matboard


Rub the plate with a tarlatan
to take off excess ink
(dirty is fine,
as ink attracts ink)


Wipe the remaining ink off
with newsprint 
(until you can see no 'halos')


Pull paper out,
and let all the water drip off at an angle


Dry paper between two towels


Place copper plate on press bed,
then paper over the copper plate


Crank and print!






AQUATINT

We can speckle the surface of the copper plate
with ground,
then etch,
to create an aquatint


First we cover the parts of the plate
that we do not want etched in aquatint
with a "resist."
A Sharpie marker works as a "resist"


Plates marked up with Sharpies
to create a resist


Lightly spray the plates
with Pledge Floor Wax ground
using an airbrush,
to create the aquatint


Clean the airbrush immediately with water
and perhaps a bit of soda ash,
so the airbrush does not clog for the next person


Submerge the "aquatinted" plate
in the tank,
design facing the acid bath


Etched and cleaned plate --
notice that the shiny areas
were those protected by the 
Sharpie resist


Applying the Sharpie resist again,
before aquatinting plate for the second time


Etched and cleaned plate


One line etch,
two aquatints,
make a "3rd State" print


Resisted with a Sharpie maker for a third time,
before aquatinting the third time



Soft Ground; soft ground variation -- crayon manner; spitbite; lift ground; crisco lift; selective wiping; chine colle; curating

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