Trying To Fight Traffic

I can't seem to get a photo uploaded. I'll wait until later and see how I make out. I seem to be spending my day waiting for traffic to die down. Nowadays there's traffic everywhere, including the information superhighway.

I was off today, feeling a little under the weather. I did go and look for a new printer as it transpires that the old one is broken, at least according to the Help Desk at Epson. I was attracted to one that is a combination printer, copier, and scanner all in one. It was on sale. However, I resisted buying it. And really, I think it's better I did. I have a scanner already. I just need a printer. A special friend suggested going to Frye's and buying a reconditioned one there. I think I just may do that.

Actually, I had planned to do it this evening, but I had a problem. I drove over to Spanish Village from the printmaking class, thinking I would deliver the etching plates I had in my car and write in my blog. Then when the traffic died down a little, I would go out to Frye's. What happened was that I wound up locking my keys in my car. Fortunately I have Triple AAA. I went over to one of the other studios, and we called them. While I waited for someone to come and open my door, I had a chance to talk to two of the artists, both board members, both very pleasant to talk to. I wasn't feeling well, and one of them offered me sunflower seeds and a mango drink. I felt much better and enjoyed our chat.

I printed the etching plate that I etched yesterday, the one with aquatint on it. I wound up leaving it in the etching solution for 75 minutes. That created quite a dark tone. Our professor found a printmaking book that he owns that has the etching process described. He has many, but this one is very thorough. And it has a chart in it that covers times for aquatint. The problem is that the chart shows a plate etched in a combination of ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid, so we can't really judge the times. However, I noticed that the chart shows the very darkest tones being achieved after 100 minutes. So it could be more accurate than we're giving it credit for. I don't know. I'll just have to keep trying various time periods.

I have two plates prepared to put in the etching solution to create aquatint. I'm hoping one of them will be successful so that I can print an edition of Thursday. I didn't manage to print one today. I'm still working on preparing the plates. I'll do that tomorrow while I'm in my studio.