July 22, 2016

For basic line etching and aquatint, covered by the first half of the class, go to this link.

Second Part of New Ground Etching Class

(July 19 - 22)

My piece in green and brown,

achieved with "selective wiping"

After teaching us basic etching and aquatinting, Regina Held taught us various other etching techniques in the New Grounds class:

SOFT GROUND

One can apply a coat of soft ground

as the resist,

and press thin material onto the plate

to create textures,

after running it all through the press

Use Graphic Chemical

water soluable

block print ink

lamp black

Spread ink out with brayer

Having laid thin grassy material over the inked plate,

and covering it all with parchment paper (or wax paper),

they ran it all through the press

Etch plate before taking off ground

Kim's print

SOFT GROUND VARIATION
 crayon manner

Crayon manner --

drawing into soft ground

Ink up plate as above,

with water soluble

Graphic Chemical lamp black ink

Place paper on top of inked plate

Draw on top of paper 

(to pull ink off plate)

Some of the drawn lines worked better than others --

perhaps a ball point pen or pointy pencil work best.

Also, drawing directly onto the plate with 

a hard pointed pencil worked too

(see bottom wavy lines)

An example of a 
good Crayon Manner print

SPITBITE

Applying the acid directly to the copper plate

(ferric chloride) with a brush,

and letting sit for the same time 

one would leave the plate in an acid bath

John's spitbite print.

This method gives softer edges,

and thus more painterly darks

LIFT GROUND

Pool soda ash solution

on a plate coated with Pledge Floor Wax hard ground,

so that the soda ash selectively compromises the hard ground,

and then etch in ferric chloride.

Applying soda ash with a brush

onto a copper plate coated with hard ground

I failed the class, by cleaning my plate before etching it.  Therefore we have no lift ground print to show.

CRISCO LIFT

 Liquefy some Crisco oil

in a microwave,

and brush it onto the copper plate

Brushing on Crisco before it solidifies.

The apply ground, let dry:

then rub ground off with sponge, 

before etching.

Crisco lift gives a more painterly print

SELECTIVE WIPING

Apply more than one color onto the same plate,

and wiping them off carefully,

to make multi-colored prints

with only one roll through the press

Green and brown ink

(don't use black)

Burnishing the white, non-inked, areas,

so that they will be easier to wipe

After inking the whole plate with brown ink,

and wiping it off with a tarlatan,

Kim selectively applies the green ink

in particular sections of her print

Now she has to wipe off the green ink

carefully

Two colored selective wiping print

CHINE COLLE

With the Chine Colle method, one glues a piece of decorative paper onto the printmaking paper, with a press.  Wheat paste glues the pieces of paper together.  The copper plate prints on the decorative paper.

Cut the decorative paper to the size of the plate,

and spritz the back with water.

Presses the excess water out by hand

Dusts the decorative paper with wheat paste,

using a sugar shaker

Placing the decorative paper onto the inked plate,

with the wheat paste side up.

Place the print making paper over 

the plate and decorative paper,

and run through the press

Chine colle print

Put newsprint over the print,

and an acrylic plate over both,

while the chine colle print dries.

Change newsprint often,

even a couple of times in the first hour.

Because the printmaking paper and decorative paper are made of two different materials, they dry at different rates.  This means that Chine colle prints tend to curl, even after they've been thoroughly dried.

CURATING

There are very big differences between the kinds of prints:

• Print -- a limited edition print, where all prints are alike.  The plate contains "permanent information" (such as an etch).

• Monoprint -- where the plate contains "permanent information," but the plate is printed such that there exists only one of this kind of variation

• Monotype -- where the plate is blank, one inks it up like making a painting, and only one of these prints exists in the end.