Until intaglio photo plates were made available for intaglio printmakers, graduation of tints was done by variable width of lines with a burin or using mezzotint with scrapers and burnishes’. Because toner particles are opaque, they have become popular using one to the many photo plate that are available, but some etchers do […]
New printing press are expensive and used one sell for top dollars as they are quickly bought up by a practicing printer looking for one. Students that graduate with printmaking in mind, find few opportunities in most centers; like a cooperative studio in which they can use the equipment on a payment of membership. Only […]
I was surprised to discover that several amateur electronic workers were etching their copper circuit boards with cupric chloride instead of ferric chloride like in the past. It turns out that this chemical can be regenerated easily with the addition of oxygen from hydrogen peroxide or other oxygen containing chemicals. The electronic industry had […]
In 1991-2, I was teaching a first year printmaking class, eventually getting to intaglio in February. When I asked the students to purchase a sheet of zinc from the bookstore, a girl came to me very upset as she could not afford the metal at this time of the school year. Was there some cheaper […]
Results have been encouraging with the new mordant I have working on. It etches the three common metals used by printmakers, with zinc dissolving the fast and copper the slowest. While there seems to a number of ways to mix a suitable mordant, I have decided to make a stock solution that will work best […]
I have been testing my new mordant for copper plates and here are some results. I have gone through the usual line work using Ferstmans’ hard/soft ground that is on my university website. That all worked fine, but the true test is the use of toner washes that print as a positive, just as drawn […]
Over the last couple of years, I have been in steady communications with Jerry Larson, the man responsible at 3M in the 60’s to get commercial waterless lithography started. He has been of great help lately with me trying to come up with a simpler, cheaper method of making positive waterless photo plates. I wish […]
For the last little while a printmaker interested in using toner for images on stone, has been asking about a good replacement for vinyl Deep Etch V lacquer. To get vinyl screen ink costs much more than needed by the average printmaker as the ink is not cheap and the solvent is only sold by […]
On the edition I am printing right now, there was a small area that needed some color and I looked to find the easiest way to add it. While I could use the common wax crayon transfer technique from Mylar I mention in the forum, I decided to try a new method that would require […]