Printmaking .. The Beginning

I feel like it is best suited to say I survived printmaking with my sanity! No, it was an awesome course and I am beyond happy to have learned what I did and gained the skills I now have. It is a class that requires hours upon hours of work in the studio however and much of it feels not artistically challenging but simply grueling.

I will do a couple of posts of the different types of prints we made.

To orient everyone with the print shop and the printing press the first week we simply did ink transfer print. Laser prints or photocopies have ink that can transfer. We applied wintergreen oil to these images we chose and ran them through the press on paper to come up with simple locker designs.

Our first project was etching 2 copper plates. My first was of a mountain scene with textures that were meant to appear like multi-faceted rocks. I guess somewhat illustrative..

I had around 10 prints of this image

Proof 1 
Simple line work to get the basic outlines

Proof 2
Gradation added for depth

Proof 3
More line work detail was done. My plate had been oxidizing so it foul bit (the acid attacked it) but I think the mistake added much more depth to the image.. one side of the mountain looks so much more in shadows.

One of my chosen favorites. It looks somewhat like an old photograph

We use the middle printing press

The Mordant room... eye and hand protection is needed in here because we work with acid to bite the plate and a strong base to remove any ground we apply

Working on my image in the beginning

My first sketch on the plate before I did any line work