new plate - new series and edition based on an earlier work

It has been a couple of years since I did a small edition from an  image that was scratched with drypoint tools into the surface of a thin plastic plate from repurposed waste packaging. 

http://myprintmakingjourney.blogspot.com/2017/02/re-purpose-household-waste-to-make.html

I was able to print 15 from the plate before the image deteriorated (after 15 the image became barely visible from repeated passes under a tight press roller.) The small fox study sold well once I put them out for purchase. Recently a couple of interested parties asked if there might still some of these prints around they could purchase. 

With this motivation I made a decision to create and print another plate with this image, but to do that I had to take a high resolution scan (originally made from one of that first edition) and using an inkjet printer and transparency film replicate the image onto a small polymer plate. 



Before  exposing the artwork on film to the plate I made some minor additions to the image on the film using latex based ink and quill pen.

The plate was post exposed after the initial image exposure/development of etch to harden the polymer permanently. Some lines that came out a little light was worked into with a fine needle tip to deepen them and these would hold just a bit more etching ink.

So far the first half dozen prints from the new plate have all produced a clean readable ink image on the cotton rag paper. I am not sure what the plate will yield but have read that polymer can produce hundreds of prints before showing deterioration. 

As I did the first time around I plan to again add hand-colouring to each print once the etching ink is dry.