Etching Research

Here's a photo I took last week of a group of succulents that grow near my studio. Actually, there are succulents all over the Village. The tourists like them and so do the local people. I had a conversation with a couple last weekend; they were very interested in the fact that the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society has sales here in the Park periodically. I think probably most of the succulents that grow around the various patios are from their sales.

Today I went to the etching class. I wanted to begin the aquatint process on some of my plates. The thing is that I wasn't sure how long to leave the plate in the ferric chloride to create an aquatint. The professor didn't know either, because he doesn't work with it. However, he has a nice library of printmaking books there in the classroom and I did some research. The most specific book I found wasn't very specific. The only thing it said was that the aquatint would take about one third as long to bite as the line etching, and that the length of time depends on various factors including the humidity and the temperature.

When I created the plates originally, I left them in the acid for about two hours, maybe slightly less. But the weather was very hot and humid at the time. I think I will begin by leaving the plate in for one hour. If the aquatint tone that is created is too dark, I can use some steel wool to remove some of it. Ideally, I'd like to have an answer so that I can move forward with my plates and my printing, but I realize I just have to do some experimenting. I chose a plate that has a great deal of false biting on it so that if the aquatint doesn't work, it won't be the end of the world.

One of the projects I'm going to participate in is photoetching. You transfer a photograph to a plate and put it in the sun to create the image. The rest washes away when you scrub it with a brush. It's a method that some of the students have tried in the past, but I never had the required computer and printer equipment to participate. Now I do and I'm anxious to try. That will be one of my four class projects. I plan to try printing some text as well as an image. We'll begin with a small plate measuring 4 inches by 5 inches and go from there. Anyway, the first plate will give us an idea of what is involved and how well the process works.

I find that I'm much more comfortable with the whole etching process because I have created a place to perform most of the process. Now when the professor asks me to do something like fill up the paper tray with water or to grind rosin for the rosin box, I can do it easily. It doesn't seem like an unsurmountable task. Also, I am much more focused than I was before. I know exactly what I want to do. That helps as well.