KRЯRL DЯAWINGS: Hard Ground

TRADITIONAL HARD GROUND

Chart of etching times with hard grounds,

in the ferric chloric "acid" --

the longer time of the etch,

the darker the line

Takach Press lists the ingredients in the Charbonnel grounds.

Charbonnel Wax Ball Hard Ground

Heat the copper plate on a hot plate

Temperature settings at Argos Gallery

for the hot plate

The plate should be hot enough

to easily melt the hard grounds by touch

Brayer the hard grounds into a thin layer

on the copper plate;

note the newsprint below

protecting the contact paper on the bottom of the plate

Take the copper plate off the hot plate,

and let it cool. Now you are ready to etch!

Sample plate of hard ground

SMOKING THE PLATE

It's hard to see the marks when scribing on a transparent hard ground. Therefore one can "smoke" the plate, building up enough soot, to darken the surface. Rembrandt and other masters did this.

Placing the copper plate in a holder,

FACE DOWN

DO NOT TOUCH THE PLATE WITH THE WICK,

only touch the plate with the flames.

Smoking the copper plate with a bundle of candle wicks

Cooling the plate with water

Voila! The smoked plate!

Even the tiniest delicate marks

with the stylus,

can now be seen on the smoked plate

Afterwards, the brayer needs to be washed

with De-Solv-It

BIG HARD GROUNDS

Karl came with 2 plates prepared with BIG hard ground, which is a new material from Wales, that comes in both black and transparent red. The exclusive American distributor is Takach Press in Albuquerque.

The video below demonstrates that you only have to roll the BIG ground on with a brayer to prepare the plate. If you want to work with a hard ground, you may heat the plate in an oven or hot plate, like Karl did the day before coming to the workshop.

BIG Grounds

Figure drawn from life,

onto the red BIG hard ground

Scribed lines on the black BIG hard ground

Previously, Karl liked the red BIG ground, because he could draw on it first with a black water soluble Stabilio All pencil. However, he hardened the BIG grounds by placing it in the New Mexico sun, inside a transparent plastic box.

This time he heated his copper plates on a hot plate the day before the workshop, and they did not behave the same way. The Stabilio All pencil would not leave a mark on the surface (without first wetting it on a wet paper towel). Then the black lines did not come off with water, like they did previously.

First drawn with a black

water soluble Stabilio All pencil,

which was easier to use on a

merely sun dried BIG ground

The BIG manufacturer recommends using a #3 litho grease pencil to draw on the plate. The Korn's litho pencils are water soluble, and will come off with a rinsing of water.

Korn's #3 litho lead

Perhaps one could recoat the etched plate with the red BIG ground, which should be transparent enough to see the previous image. However, it was difficult to see lines drawn with a fine sewing needle, in the red BIG ground (though apparently they are visible on the black BIG ground).