Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Art Date: Etching Class!

  One of the items on my 2014 Check List was to take an art course. 
 I am happy to say that I completed an intaglio class at Martha Street Printmaking Studio!
It was such a joy to learn some new skills...besides some art related ones, I learned to slow down and be patient. I was also happy to find out that my brain was ok with all this new stuff!  
In intaglio (etching), you work on copper. The plate is prepared and coated with a hard ground which you then draw your design into. The copper that is exposed by the drawing is etched in an acid bath. I worked many, many hours on my two designs: drawing, then etching, reapplying ground and etching again. It is such an interesting and thoughtful process.  I have included some pictures of one of my plates from intaglio class and will be sharing some pictures from my new Letterpress class (Yay!) on Instagram 
over the next few weeks.
P.S. I hope that you are inspired to try a new class in anything that intrigues you!
Here is the copper plate I etched, inked up and ready to print.
The plate is put on the press...
And a piece of wet (but not too wet) beautiful paper is placed carefully on the plate.
Felt clothes are placed over the paper and plate. I  then used the big "captain's wheel" to roll the plate through the heavy rollers.
Then, like a gift, you pull off the paper and voila! A print.
Below is a clean plate and a print with some drawing tools!
xo



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