I attempted another soft grounds etching, while drawing from a live model. The last attempt came out nicely, however this effort did not work entirely.
The final print
came out better than I expected,
considering that the upper part of the plate was smudged
The final drawing came out nicely
Newsprint paper
on top of a copper plate
coated with soft BIG grounds
The back part of the newsprint paper came out way too dark.
Back of newsprint drawing,
the side that faced the wet BIG grounds
on the copper plate
When the newsprint paper was peeled off the copper plate, the results were not pretty. The bottom part of the drawing translated nicely onto the copper plate, however the top part did not.
Copper plate
after the drawing was finished --
ugly
I think that the paper was too loose, and rubbed the BIG grounds off, at least on the top part of the copper plate. When I drew on the bottom of the plate, I pulled the newsprint to make it taught flush o the copper plate. While drawing, I suspected that the bottom part of the plate would not come out, and the top part would -- however the results were exactly the opposite.
Next time I should tape the paper down firmer onto the copper plate coated with wet BIG grounds.
I also wonder if the BIG grounds were too wet. While last time I apparently coated the plate the night before, I have a feeling that the grounds were not as wet. Last time was a lot warmer. This time I left the freshly coated plate in the cold car, in a box. It got close to freezing that night, at the very least.
Or perhaps I put too much grounds on the plate. I first brayered the BIG grounds on a piece of newsprint, and then flipped the newsprint onto the copper plate, and brayered it onto the plate, like I did on October 20th. Using the extra step with newsprint, I thought that I could apply a thinner layer of BIG grounds on the copper plate.
On September 18th, I brayered the BIG grounds directly onto the copper plate, and I think that I applied it too thickly this way, so the soft ground process did not work.
NOTE -- the soft grounds process worked nicely in Mary Teichman's workshop in December 2017. However, we used Martin Weber soft grounds, and applied it under the eye of experts. I did get the BIG ground to work as soft grounds last time however, on November 10th.
In the BIG Soft GroundsYouTube video, the inventor of BIG just brayers the BIG grounds directly on the copper plate. I am not a printmaker, so I'm not as familiar with the consistency of the ink. Probably if the BIG grounds has that nice crisp snap sound, like the ink should have making a relief print, then it should apply thinly enough on the copper plate.
UPDATE (Nov 30):
I etched this plate at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque, on Friday, November 30, 6 days after I drew it. We had to etch the plate 60 minutes, but ultimately the print came out better than I expected. The top part was blurry, because the newsprint rubbed too much ink off while I was drawing the figure. So I didn't expect a good print. However the plate etched fairly well, considering.
The plate was still a bit tacky to the touch. An hour earlier we had etched a wet soft grounds plate, and the BIG grounds came off in the ferric chloride.
So we heated the copper plate on a hot plate, to harden the grounds before etching. The plate smoked a little bit. I was concerned that the BIG grounds would level out, and obscure some of the drawn lines -- however that did not seem to be the case.
In the BIG Soft GroundsYouTube video, the inventor of BIG just brayers the BIG grounds directly on the copper plate. I am not a printmaker, so I'm not as familiar with the consistency of the ink. Probably if the BIG grounds has that nice crisp snap sound, like the ink should have making a relief print, then it should apply thinly enough on the copper plate.
UPDATE (Nov 30):
I etched this plate at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque, on Friday, November 30, 6 days after I drew it. We had to etch the plate 60 minutes, but ultimately the print came out better than I expected. The top part was blurry, because the newsprint rubbed too much ink off while I was drawing the figure. So I didn't expect a good print. However the plate etched fairly well, considering.
The plate was still a bit tacky to the touch. An hour earlier we had etched a wet soft grounds plate, and the BIG grounds came off in the ferric chloride.
We started with this tacky copper plate
Hardening the soft grounds
on a hot plate
No perceivable leveling of the BIG grounds,
though I expected it
I covered the back of the plate with black spray paint, to keep it from etching in the acid.
I covered the back of the copper plate
with black spray paint,
before etching
After 20 minutes in the acid bath, nothing much seemed to happen. We etched the plate flat, in a small tray. We scooped the ferric chloride out of the main tank. This was ferric chloride that had been "refreshed" recently, within the past two weeks.
Etched 20 minutes
I proofed the first etch without taking off the BIG grounds. There seemed to be some embossing where my lines were, but those lines did not print with the Akua ink. The embossing was probably because the BIG ground was higher where my pencil marks did not take it off (after the pencil marks were lifted by the newsprint).
Oatmeal proof,
the 20 minute etch did not print
I then etched the plate for 20 more minutes -- 40 minutes total -- this time immersing it in the large vertical tank at Remarque. Again, I proofed the plate without taking off the BIG grounds.
40 minute etch
More oatmeal --
this proof was a little better,
some of the lines almost came through
Lastly, I etched the plate for 20 more minutes -- 60 minutes total -- and took the BIG grounds off before I proofed the plate. The proof looked promising, at least from the etching process. Of course it will be more difficult to correct the fuzzy top part, where the main figure is, because I botched that during the drawing process.
But maybe I can add hard ground etched lines, who knows?
Progression of etching proofs
The soft ground etching process looks promising with BIG grounds. From other experiences, I need to brayer on the BIG grounds somewhat thinly, and let them dry a bit to a nice tacky surface. If the grounds are too wet, a light touch of the newsprint paper might pick up the grounds too easily, making it more likely to "smear" the make fuzzy the drawn image. Also, the paper has to be taped firmly, so that it does not move or flutter over the copper plate, when I am drawing on it.
The BIG soft ground has to harden before etching. Previously I have been leaving the soft grounds in the New Mexico sun (covered in a transparent plastic box, a mini-greenhouse), to let them harden a bit before immersing the plate in acid. As we learned recently, the ferric chloride will lift the wet soft BIG grounds off during the etching process, which is not good. I can harden the BIG grounds with a hot plate to accelerate the process, like we did to this plate, before etching. Apparently the BIG grounds will not level out and obscure the line, if the temperature is not too high on the hot plate.
The BIG soft grounds plate apparently needs to be etched for 60 minutes. 20 minute etches do not seem to be working.
A previous plate did not seem to etch after 30 minutes, when we immersed it in ferric chloride at Remarque Print Workshop. They "refreshed" the ferric chloride, so we thought that 20 minutes would give at least a light etch, but with this plate the 20 minute etch did not seem to bite at all. Which makes me wonder, perhaps the ferric chloride was not "spent" at Remarque after all.
This technique still seems to be promising, as it was last year.
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