Experiment - small tetra-pak plate intaglio print

small botanical print made from a Tetra-pak plate

Several years back I came across a blog by a European printmaker who was making original intaglio prints using tetra-pak juice boxes. These containers are originally used to contain liquid foods. The boxes are constructed from paper board with a thin foil layer fused onto one side and then are coated in a thin layer of plastic. This artist was cutting panels from used containers and using these as a surface from which small hand-printed intaglio prints could be achieved. She had success marking line into the surface using needle tools. These lines would hold etching ink and would transfer to paper under extreme pressure (usually with the use of an etching press).

I recently decided to try this material out for myself, being a bit of tetra pak containers find use in this household. It was also an experiment to learn how the plate might perform printed as small detailed images. The artist who inspired me had minimal detail in her print designs and areas of dark contrast achieved by cutting and peeling away areas of surface layer. She added some line and texture in the remaining surface using a pottery needle to scribe line.

I had a sketch on hand that was recently used for a larger acrylic painting on board. I redrew my sketch onto tracing vellum (reduced scale) to fit a small plate that measures 5.5 x 8 cm (2 1/8 x 3 1/8 inches) and then reversed it and retraced the line using a 6B lead pencil. This was then positioned (6B graphite tracing facing the plate surface) over top of the tetra-pak plate and secured it with cellophane tape to the underside of the plate. I then drew over the graphite line with a fine line permanent marker. The next stage was to remove surface areas where the darkest tones (created by the ink deposits in the lower regions) would be printed.

tracing from sketch, front and back of cut panels from juice box

cutting and peeling away surface foil area using surgical scalpel blade

I carefully used a surgical scalpel to cut and remove the delicate surface area where I wanted darkest hues to print. Peeling away the plastic coated foil from the cut surface areas revealed a coarse paper board texture. This might hold a fair bit of ink which in turn would print dark after the wiping back of the plate before I printed it onto a soaked and blotted cotton rag paper.

plate ready to be printed after inking and wiping surface with newsprint

first print that ink was too spotty and weak

the second print

I applied Caligo safe-wash black etching ink again using a homemade rolled felt dabber and wiped the surface with yellow pages from an old phone book. The ready to print plate was then put on my press bed on a registration sheet, clean cotton rag paper was set over top along with an equal size piece of newsprint and then the felt blankets. I set my press roller to deliver tight pressure when the bed was passed under the metal top roller.

Unfortunately print #1 didn't yield a good image. The ink was faint in a lot of spots. Could have been any number of factors that caused this (too much wiping, ink too thin, paper too damp, etc...). 

After some modifications and a second inking of the plate results for the second print were better. There was some good contrast happening between dark and light areas. However that being said a lot of the tiny lines that were scribed into the surface didn't appear to deliver the details I was hoping for. I believe that the small size of the plate and the shallower surface marks made by the tools didn't deliver as good an image as those from a metal or plastic plate. None the less, I still see possibilities with tetra pak prints of small size maybe using designs with basic outlines and simplistic detail lines. I plan to explore this again soon.  

Collagraph study - polygonum (knotweed)

Polygonom - Quetico 

I recently printed a few black and white proofs from a collagraph plate that I had constructed by in February. It is titled Polygonum (the botanical classification of this species of aquatic weed.) It is also known as knotweed or smartweed and is actually a member of the buckwheat family. This is one of a number of studies that examines flora/fauna found here in Northwestern Ontario. My new works project is being funded by a grant from the Northern Arts program through the Ontario Arts Council.

Using a photo I had taken in Quetico Provincial park in September of 2013 as reference I drew the composition first onto a thin matboard plate in pencil. A variety of materials were used to construct the low relief including paper, modeling paste, rice kernels, old man's beard moss and liquid PVC glue. I also marked into the plate surface with the sharp blade of a craft knife. When everything was glued down and dry I coated the plate on both the front and back and sides with 3 applications of shellac.

various materials were attached using glue 

as low relief elements on the plate.

top layer of the mat board is cut and peel away to create areas 

that will print as darker shadows and shapes in the print.

I applied black vegetable oil base ink to the plate surface with a soft bristle tooth brush and then wiped the plate with tartalan cloth bundled up into a ball. I then carefully removed areas of inks for lighter highlights using the end of cotton swab sticks.

The print was made onto slightly damp Magnani revere 250 gm white rag and printed with medium pressure on my table top Blick etching press.

When the ink had dried to the touch I taped the print down onto a plastic core board and applied thin layers of watercolour and liquid acrylic inks to add in the colour.

polymer plate printing using different printmaking inks at the same time

This is a print from a solar plate I created last year. Decided to try something a bit unusual this time around to make a few more prints from the plate. Graphic Chemical bone black oil based etching ink (linseed base) was applied first into the exposed plate recessed areas. After a good wiping with tartalan cloth and yellow pages I then applied color Akua intaglio ink onto the surface areas. For this the ink was applied using a small watercolor brush and I used my pinky to smudge it around a la poupee. Some of the ink was applied as is right out of the jar but I also diluted a few colors like the green with a little Akua blending medium.

I pre-soaked a piece of Canson Edition 250 gm rag white for about 40 min. which was blotted between cotton towels and then laid slightly damp over top of the plate that I had set onto a piece of cartridge paper on the press bed. A piece of newsprint was placed over top of this and three layers of wool felts carefully set on top of this. The inked plate was passed through the press. The photos above and below illustrate the result. Even though the inks are from different sources they do appear to work together. I was careful to not to apply to much Akua ink but to leave some little white areas exposed to add highlights.

Echinacea

solar plate etching

copyright Brian Holden 2012

image size : 8.6 x 12.7 cm (3 3/8 x 5 inches)

paper size: 18 x 23 cm (7 x 9 inches)

varied open edition