Etching with a Laser Assist

Darren and I coated a copper plate with black spray paint, and cut off the paint with the laser cutter at QueLab hackerspace in Albuquerque.

The image came from my book

"Finish My Figure Drawings" (drawing 181) --

all those drawings are available for download online

in high resolution, placed in the public domain

The drawing cutting off the black spray paint,

at full power on the laser cutter 

(in about 20 minutes)

Video of the laser cutting process

at QueLab hackerspace in Albuquerque

After the laser cutting

The idea is to etch the image into the copper plate, by submerging it in Ferric Chloride (for at least 30 minutes), and then making fine art etching prints from the etched copper plate.

This is not unlike making a circuit board.

Note: that after the high resolution drawing (181) was downloaded, it was "flipped" horizontally with XnView (or any other digital program), before being sent to the laser cutter.  That is because when the plate is etched and inked, it will print a reverse image on paper.

By flipping it first digitally, we will be able to print the image in the same orientation as it is in my book.  If we were etching and printing words, they would come out backwards in the final print, if we did not "flip" them horizontally first.

I applied Golden "Stop-Out" Varnish,

to the extraneous scratches on the spray paint,

so that they would not etch

After 30 minutes of etching

in ferric chloride

After  30 minutes of etching,

in a bath of ferric chloride

The proof print

on the press bed

The proof print is somewhat unexpected.  I did not take off the spray paint ground before printing, which probably accounts for the grey plate tone.  The spray painted surface has a matte texture, that did not wipe off well with the tarlatan wiping rag.

The actual lines of the figure however, were much lighter than I anticipated.  Perhaps the lines are too thick, and therefore did not hold the ink tightly, when the plate was wiped with the tarlatan rag.

The first proof print

Later we took the black spray paint off the copper plate (easily, with EZ Strip), and Manuel Guerra made a proper proof on good paper, at his studio in El Paso.  The 8 inch plate fit nicely and printed well, on the small Conrad press.

Cleaned plate 

and proof on nice paper

Next experiment, electro-etching at QueLab.  We tried this once, and it seemed to have worked, but it was messy.

Next time Adric suggested that we use vinegar as the electrolyte.


UPDATE (Nov 3, 2018):  I tried to laser etch a more complicated drawing from my book (drawing 150), attempting the same method as above, however it did not come out as nice.  We altered the image in XnView -- image/Convert to Binary/Binary(Pattern)  -- to simplify it, but the background etched, and the weaker gray lines got darker, blurring out all the detail in the neck, for instance.

Not too clean

laser etching through the black spray paint

on a copper plate

However, after some finesse, 

the second  proof actually looked promising.