My Printing Group...

copperplate etching

I started back with my printing group last Monday, after a 3 week break.
Glad to be back sharing my Mondays with these artists Eleanor, Marlene, Gary and Max.

I arrived with a copper plate, some soft ground, some fabrics and "Turquoise" etching ink.
Did I tell you I invested in some brilliant brightly coloured etching inks...yes I said brightly coloured!!! and six of them too.
Dioxine Purple, Yellow, Orient Blue, Crimson Red, Turquoise & Viridian Green...not sure what came over me, but I'm glad I bought them.

The idea is to do a 2 plate print...today's was meant to be the background print plate...not so sure anymore...I think I like it as a print in it's own right.


The above image is a detail of the heavily 'bitten' copper plate.
I began by heating the plate on a hotplate, I then melted the soft ground onto the plate. With a roller I evened out the ground and while still warm, I lay the fabric onto the ground and then ran the whole lot through the press.
Once the fabric was removed, I could see the impression in the ground...the plate then went into a ferric chloride acid bath for 2 hours.
Once the plate is removed from the acid, it's cleaned and prepared for printing.


First colour used here was turquoise...


Next, I cleaned the plate and rolled on a layer of black ink.
I then relief printed over the turquoise print, and this was the result.

Driving home, my mind was ticking over...colour...colour...colour.
Thinking about my new etching inks and all the different colour combinations I could try.

The exciting news is, my printing group and I, are going to exhibit together in 2010. We are just at the beginning of starting to get the ball rolling and I will certainly post as details start to consolidate.