Spit bite with copper sulphate

Still feeling inspired by the first meeting of our new artists’ group last week, I managed to spend a sizeable chunk of time in the studio over the weekend - and made good progress with the Captain. I tried some spit bite which wasn’t so successful. Using the copper sulphate solution straight from the bath etched a little, as you can see from the above scan; I kept adding more of the etch every five minutes or so, which produced the sort of effect I wanted. However, the bite was so shallow and delicate that I managed to remove it completely when I degreased the plate for the next aquatint. Back to the drawing board.

On googling ‘spit bite with copper sulphate’, I found this rather interesting site which recommends mixing a solution of 800g copper sulphate crystals to 1 litre of water; a much stronger solution than in the bath (which is also partially spent). The images of test strips on the site look promising so my goal for this week is to try it out.

You can’t keep an old etcher down

After a hiatus of about six months, it’s good to be etching again. I started this image as a wood engraving but the call of the aquatint was too strong, so here he is on a 20 x 30 cm zinc plate. I’m trying to work more quickly and haphazardly, not so meticulously with this one so we’ll see how that approach goes; I’m pleased with how he’s coming along so far though. Working on some text to go with the image now.

Whilst I was at it, I mixed up a new batch of copper sulphate solution – quite a pleasing New Year ritual. The vibrant blue of the copper sulphate crystals and the way they turn green and yellow when mixed with salt and hot water, then back to a blue solution made me think of Spring. Not that I’m wishing my life away, but the days are getting longer now…

Aluminium versus zinc

On Tuesday, I paid a visit to Metal Supermarkets here in Southampton in search of zinc plate. It was my first visit as I usually get my plates from printmaking suppliers but I was after some tricky sizes. Sarah and Katherine, who run Red Hot Press, mostly use aluminium for etching and source it there so I thought I’d give it a go. No solid zinc sadly, just Zintec sheet which is mild steel electro-coated with zinc apparently. Not sure how thick the coating is but I would imagine it doesn’t bear too much reworking before you’re down to the steel. I bought some aluminium instead - never tried it before but Sarah gets good results with it - and it was much cheaper than equivalent sized plates from printmaking suppliers. Bonus.

Was lucky enough to squeeze a couple of studio hours in this afternoon, between the chores, family stuff and general domestic flim-flam, so prepared a couple of small test plates for line work and aquatinting. I’m still getting a grip on how aquatinting works on zinc so this probably isn’t the best time to be experimenting with a new material, but there we are. And the aluminium does indeed feel and look very different to zinc when etched. It seems to take a lot longer to bite in the copper sulphate solution and the marks left around the particles of resin look very different too. Even the inking and wiping feels different and the weight and density of the plate in the hand. Odd how familiar one can get with (and attached to I suppose) the feel of a piece of metal.

The photos show the difference between pine resin aquatint on aluminium (top) and zinc (bottom).

I have my own studio!

It’s just beginning to sink in that I now have my own studio – a long-held dream. Still quite a bit to do to get it fully up and running and it will continue to evolve naturally over time, but I pulled my first prints in it on Saturday – wood engravings. How exciting is that!

Ordered some copper sulphate crystals for etching from Hawthorn’s yesterday and hung up a load of inky scrim to dry from my last visit to the workshop. Smells wonderfully printkmakingish in there already. Took a desk and chair up today so I now have somewhere to sit down and work.

I was thinking today how… bizarre it is really. I started this blog less than two months ago, intending to write about wood engraving; the whole point was that it’s a form of printmaking that I could do at home which wouldn’t take up much room. And here I am, determined to go back to etching and setting up my own studio.

I HAVE MY OWN STUDIO! How lucky am I.

Project Atelier: Phases Two and Three begin…

Phase one continues (three car-loads of stuff to the dump so far, more to go) but being an impatient sort, I’ve started phases two and three as well.

Phase two: shifting all my existing printmaking and art-related equipment into the studio – going well and almost finished.

Phase three: procuring the necessary items that I don’t already have like heating, inking slab, etching and water baths, copper sulphate and a press. Doing well here – heaters ordered, baths bought and inking slab reclaimed from behind the garage. The main window of the studio used to have a hole in one side of it (it’s double-glazed) and when I was in there at the weekend, I realised there was no hole in the current one. Dad must have replaced it at some point. Had a look behind the studio and there was the old window, just waiting to be turned into a massive and magnificent inking slab. It’s about three feet by four and was wedged into a narrow gap between the fence and back wall of the studio, so took a bit of huffing and puffing to get it out. Also to get it onto the bench in the studio! It’s a perfect fit though so I’m well chuffed with that. The photo shows the slab in situ, and my hotplate and general inking area.

Just need to get the copper sulphate now, and the most difficult and most expensive part – the press.

Other objets trouves: a brass letterbox, an air pistol (delivered to the Police on Thursday), an old copper kettle, framed photographs of unknown early 20^th Century gentlemen.

What a good day I had yesterday.
After five long months intaglioless, I finally got a chance to get thoroughly inky again. There’s nothing so satisfying as being able to look at one’s blackened fingernails and ink-stained skin, knowing that there’s a batch of freshly pulled prints – good ones at that – flattened under boards to dry.

I really didn’t expect to pull so many good ones yesterday. Five months is a long time to be away from one’s work. Prior to that, I was printing and etching every other week and working on the plates in between. Working that intensively, you become familiar with all the little nuances of the plates; you know exactly how much ink to use, which areas need a little more or a little less; how to wipe, where to wipe vigorously, where to wipe gently. As you pull each proof, you study it and notice all its subtleties, making decisions almost subconsciously as you go along. It sounds poncey I know, and I like to think I’m not pretentious but I think it’s true to say that you work with the plate rather than on it. That’s what’s so wonderful about etching – you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get. You have an idea how it’ll look when you pull that first proof, but there’s always an element of surprise. The plate, the ground and the etching solution all conspire to give you something you didn’t quite expect. It may not always be a good surprise of course, but that keeps you from complacency.

Yesterday I printed the second and third images in my Red Scar series. I’ve used details of these in the blog header and as my profile picture. They’re soft and hard ground on zinc, with some rather haphazard use of straw hat varnish, etched in copper sulphate solution. The plate area is approximately 15 x 10 cm. Like most of my work, they are illustrative – based on a story about a highwayman. A story destined never to be finished…