April 20, 2019

Drawn in the Argos Gallery of Santa Fe in the morning, etched and printed in the afternoon:

Final proof --

Etching on B.I.G. hard grounds,

after 40 minutes in Hydrochloric acid  

I first drew the figure on the B.I.G. hard grounds

with a water soluble Stabilo pencil

I started drawing into the copper plate with a stylus

while the white pencil marks were still there

The white pencil marks came off easily with water

All the lines were made

with the flexible knife end 

of this sculpture tool

Ready for etching

PREPARATION

Cutting copper plate on the shear

Beveling the copper plate

by rubbing it on sandpaper

glued to a weight

Backing the copper plate with 

sticky back Contact paper

Rolling the Contact paper

on a warmed surface

Cleaning the copper plate

with Bar Keepers Friend

Cleaning the copper plate surface

with weak lye and calcium carbonate power

Brayering on the B.I.G. ground

onto the copper plate

Heating the copper plate with B.I.G. ground

for 20 minutes

to harden the grounds

CLEAN UP

Coconut oil 

cleans oil based ink well,

off hands and the copper plate

While we made the print before taking off the B.I.G. grounds --

we cleaned the ink off with coconut oil and a citric cleaner,

and that took the B.I.G. grounds off the copper plate

Cleaned plate

OBSERVATIONS

I made this etching in Argos Gallery, where the Santa Fe Etching Club is located.

It was nice drawing printing in the same studio, in the same day.  I don't know why I didn't do this before.  I did come in the day before, and cut and prepared a copper plate with B.I.G. grounds.

B.I.G. hard grounds

Eric used a lighter gauge of copper plate than they sold at Takach Press (which seemed half as thick).  This thinner copper plate was easier to bevel, by hand pulling it over hard sandpaper (see image above).

We "hardened" the B.I.G. grounds (available at Takach Press) on a hot plate for 20 minutes, at low temperature.  This seemed to work.  The plate was still sticky to the touch, until it cooled off. Normally I leave the coated copper plate in a transparent box, in the New Mexico sun, for a couple of days.

Eric had had problems with the B.I.G. hard grounds in some tests.  With lighter lines, the shiny copper showed through, but did not etch.  I have had this problem with the B.I.G. soft grounds.  There may be an invisible residue under the black hard ground that resists the acids.  This was not a problem for me however, as I draw pretty heavy-handedly, making an almost dry point line every time I touch the copper plate.

This time I drew very densely around the figure, which printed very black, and pushed the figure out. I did not have to use aquatint to bring the figure out.  The lines were thin, not wide, so the etched lines picked up the ink.

I drew the whole figure with the knife end of a sculpture tool.  I liked the flexibility of this tool.  However, I might need to use another tool, like sewing machine needle, for more control, to achieve details in the face and hands.

I drew with the knife end of this sculpture tool,

which has some bounce and flexibility,

which allows me to draw long, curved lines

We proofed the etching without taking off the B.I.G. grounds.  Had we done this with Akua ink, we could have washed off the ink with water, and the B.I.G. grounds would have still stayed on.  Then I could have drawn back into the plate, adding details and other elements.

I left the proof for Dr Robert Bell. 

This time we used oil based ink to proof, and cleaned the plate with coconut oil and a citric solvent.  This took the B.I.G. grounds off (though not so easily).  There are other products that will take the B.I.G. grounds off more easily, and they also claim to be "safe."

Safest Stripper from ACE Hardware

takes the B.I.G. grounds off nicely --

though we did not use it

Likewise EZ Strip from Home Depot

takes off the B.I.G.grounds easily

The next step is to attempt B.I.G. soft grounds again, and harden the grounds on a hot plate, after making the drawing.  That way I could still etch and proof in the afternoon.

Also I might need more drawing time.  I could add details after the drawing session in hard ground.  Or after hardening the soft grounds, I could draw more lines with a hard stylus, before the first etch.  I'm afraid that I might have opened another Pandora's Box, having only timidly approached etching so far.

Note on the different in thickness of copper plates, between the Santa Fe Etching club and what Takach sells:

Santa Fe Etching club copper plates -- "18 gauge," .0323" thick

Takach copper plates -- "20 gauge," .0485" thick