Etching Experiments 05 Feb 07

I wanted to improve my plate wiping technique andt at the same time try some new techniques. All these prints were made on the backs of old plates.

I felt that previously I was over wiping plates with the scrim so after reading up on it I decided to wipe less with scrim but to follow it with hand or tissue wiping. I couldn't quite get the hang of hand wiping so I settled on tissue and I'm quite pleased with the result.

The new technique I wanted to try was to use PVA screen filler applied with an airbrush for aquatint. One of my aims was to be able to make a good dark black. The method I ended up with goes like this:-

1. Degrease the plate thoroughly. I use brasso for this.

2. Spray on the screen filler with an airbrush. I use Speedball screen filler.

3. Warm the plate so that it's just slightly too hot to touch. This seems to harden the screen filler. I found if I didn't do this it tended to lift off the plate in the etching bath.

4. Mask out the print as required. I use Rhinds quick drying stop out varnish.

5. Etch the plate.

6. Clean off the stop out varnish.

7. Clean off the speed ball screen filler. This is one draw back to the process because it's a pain in the ass to get off. It says on the container to clean with "Greased Lightning" or something. I think this is an American product but I was told that Mr Muscle does the same. Unfortunately it doesn't. I have been removing the screen filler with weak caustic soda solution. Which is not ideal.

The upshot of all this is that I prefer the screen filler aquatint over the traditional resin aquating because its much easier to control.

	This was semi-successful. The black is really nice and velvety. The pale grey areas were made by painting on screen filler diluted with water. The idea being that the etching solution eats away at the screen filler and then starts attacking the plate so you get a lighter colour. The more diluted the solution the darker the colour. It does work and you can get some nice wishy washy effects but its quite difficult to control.
	I was trying to get a rich texture and there's a bit of everything on here including etching, open bite etch and engraving. I think it'll go in my "might be useful one day" drawer.
	The aquatint is interesting on this one. I found that if you use a very fine spray then you can get an even grey or dark tone but if you use a coarser spray you can get quite an interesting texture which you can see here. The dark lines were drypoint.
	Here is another one with the dark blacks and diluted screen filler greys. The thin lines are engraved.
	Here's the spooky house. This was just a fun print with aquatint and drypoint. Tthe lawn of the house was made using soft ground resist and running it through the press with some scrim..
	The eye in the sky. A nice dark black with some texture added by engraving.
	This is one I like but no one else does. The lines are all engraved and I was just having some fun with the burin. The interesting thing is the background grey which was done using screen filler aquatint. In this case I over sprayed quite a lot so there was a lot more copper covered than exposed. Then I etched quite heavily. The result is a texture of dark dots on a white background. As if someone sprinkled pepper on the paper.

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