December 7, 2017

Drawn at 3rd Street Arts in Albuquerque:

15 minute etch

This etching was first drawn on a copper plate, from a live model in Albuquerque, at the Dec 7th session at 3rd Street Arts.  Then I etched and printed that plate during the etching workshop at Argos Gallery in Santa Fe the following weekend.

Drawing from the live model

at 711 3rd Street

in Albuquerque

Then, during the Etching Workshop at Argos the following weekend, I etched the plate and made a print. 

Etching in ferric chloride

ACCIDENT

After the first etch, I was going to cover the figure with "stop out" resist, and add lines to the background, then etch the plate again.

However, I added "stop out" to the wrong part of the plate, and decided to wash it off with alcohol.  The alcohol also took specs of the red BIG hard ground off, so I had to clean the resist off the whole plate).  Then I printed from the clean plate.

The De-Sol-It

from Ace Hardware (in the plastic see-thru bottle)

did not take off the BIG grounds very easily

This EZ Strip

from Home Depot 

takes the BIG grounds off easily

PREPARATION

at Remarque Print Workshop

in Albuquerque

First I beveled the edges with this plate deburring tool I bought at Takach Press.

Then I took the protective plastic sheet off the copper, and cleaned and degreased the surface -- first with salt and vinegar.  After washing that sludge off, I cleaned the plate with Bon Ami.  This is how they degrease the plate at the non-toxic Remarque/New Grounds Print Workshop.

Then I prepared to coat the plates:

I used the new red BIG grounds, which I bought from Takach Press, as a hard ground.

BIG ground

I heated the copper plate on a hot plate, until a bit of smoke rose from the plate.  The color changed from a cherry red, to a deeper maroon, when the plate was hot.

Coating the rest of the plates

I could not entirely clean the red ground off the brayer.  Alcohol might do it, however alcohol will turn the rubber brayer into a sticky mess.  I used mineral oil, and an orange cleaner, to get most of the BIG grounds off.

CONCLUSION:  This process did not work as well as it did last time, when I used a water soluble Stabilio All pencil to first draw the model onto the copper plate. First the Stabilio pencil would not mark on the red BIG grounds, like it did last time.  So I tapped the water soluble pencil on a wet paper towel first, and then drew with it. I could draw that way, but later could not take the pencil marks off the red ground.  Before they washed off easily with water.

I like taking the black drawing off the red ground at some point, so I can better see the marks made with the hard stylus (after scratching into the ground, the shiny copper shows up as a line).  The black lines overwhelm the copper lines, ultimately making it hard to see what I've drawn.

This method worked the last time I used the red BIG hard grounds.  However, last time I left the BIG coated plates in a plastic box in the New Mexico sun, until they were no longer sticky to the touch.  This time I cooked the red BIG grounds on with a hot plate, which must have made the surface too slick to take the Stabilio marker.

Also, I used a sewing needle (in a lead holder) to draw this time. However, I could not see the thin marks made with a sewing needle on the red BIG ground.

Sewing machine needle

in a lead holder

The delicate sewing needle marks

(upper right corner)

did show up on the 

black BIG grounds