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a decision to create and print another plate with this image, but to do that I had to take a high resolution scan (originally made from one of that first edition) and using an inkjet printer and transparency film replicate the image onto a small polymer plate.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

miniature mix media prints - landscapes

Near Rossport

polymer plate etching with hand colour

2019

print image size: 4 x 7 cm (1.5 x 2.75 inches)

You might notice that the image at the beginning of this blog entry bears a similarity to a work featured in my last blog entry. That previous image was a colour linoleum block print. You would be right because it is very similar in fact. I adapted the same view and composition using a different printmaking methodology. It is also  about 1/10th scale in size and is therefore officially a miniature.  It also incorporates hand colouring to become an original mix media work on paper. (intaglio print & painting).

The sketch I made for my lino was scanned and reduced in size. I then printed it using black inkjet ink onto clear film. This was then exposed using a fine dot aquatint screen and UV light onto a small pre-cut piece of polymer plate (solar plate) that I had rounded the corners using a metal file. 

The image was etched into the plate surface by exposure to the light. Gentle scrubbing with a toothbrush and using tepid water removed surface area to reveal the image. I exposed the plate again (without the film) to UV to harden the polymer for good.





Black oil based etching ink (cranfield safewash) was wiped into the shallow recessed etched areas and I then put 250 gm weight cotton rag paper over the plate. A lot of pressure was applied by running it under the roller of a small etching press which transferred the image to the paper. The printed image is then secured to a board using moistened paper tape (also used for watercolour painting) and set aside in a warm space to dry (up to a week or more duration) 

print on paper and the plate from which it originates. Notice how the image is in reverse on the plate.

Once the etching ink dries I apply colour into the print using washes of thinned liquid acrylic inks with synthetic taklon brushes. The paper is then cut to size with the bottom leaving a deckle tear edge created by folding over a special ruler with a rough tooth.

The resulting print with colour. Each print on paper is different because of differences produced during the painting application. 






My plan is to continue with this same format in a series of miniature prints that are based on landscapes found around the region where I live.

Milk carton printmaking - experimentations

A couple of weeks back I began exploring the possibilities of producing prints from plates that are made from milk cartons. Mainly the inner surface of the cartons which protect the liquid inside be they milk, juice or beverages derived from nuts or seeds.
This all started with a drop-in art activity for children that I volunteered to give at a local art center. I had seen a photo online of a young woman who had taken a printmaking workshop (not sure where or when) and she mentioned they were having fun making prints from milk cartons. This caught my interest. 

Anyhow I had been saving cartons for other uses (making bird feeders, snow scoops for snow sculpture construction) and discovered I had quite a few amassed in my cellar.  These had previously been rinsed out with warm water after their initial purpose was complete. I carefully cut the tops off then slit the sides using a utility blade . Some edges had wrinkles in the surface (perhaps from rough handling when these were put by staff on supermarket shelves or during transport from the shopping cart to my refridgerator) so I had to trim these wrinkled areas off the plate. I ended up with a collection of various square and rectangular plates. 


Here is the plate I  used for the demonstration (middle) and resulting print (left). The other piece (right) is from the front side of the original carton. I made a direct drawing using a drypoint needle right into the surface of the plain white reverse side of the plate.

The young artists who came to the drop-in had a lot of fun drawing on the plates and then scratching over the pencil line using needle tools. They wiped Akua intaglio ink into the lines and wiped the plates using newsprint and tissue paper. 

They got the opportunity to turn the etching press wheel when these were printed and then take their prints and plates home afterwards.
Since the plates were small it was easy to put several on at one time for a pass under the press roller. 

Above photo shows two square plate prints produced by a couple of young male artists (12 y/o). Akua Carbon black and Pthalo blue ink. Printed onto damp 250 Canson Edition white rag. 

I brought my plate home and decided to see what else I could do with it since it was still very printable after my initial demo print at the drop-in.
I once again applied Akua carbon black intaglio ink to the plate and wiped it back with a soft polyester mesh. Then I wiped the surface back with a piece of old yellow pages from an old phone book. I then spot dabbed colours of thinned Akua intaglio (thinned by adding a drop of Akua blending medium). These were carefully wiped using tissue over my pinky finger tip. This method is known as À la poupée.  

I set soaked and blotted Magnani cotton rag paper over top and ran it through my small etching press. 
The result was very favourable. 

I noticed a bit of peeling starting to occur around the line edges on the plate. I carefully lifted the peeling area of the surface and peeled it back making sure it didn't take up any of the elements inside the line. In essence this left slightly raised surface area. The area exposed from peeling was a bit rougher in texture. I again applied ink to the plate and wiped it back. However this time I selectively did a bit more removal of ink with tissue over finger tips and also a bit of strategic highlighting using cotton swabs. And the result came out like this in the photo below.

I have pulled a few more prints from the plate and fear now it is deteriorating fast. I believe that milk carton plates are good really only for small editions of perhaps up to 8 images.

miniature etchings from photopolymer plates - a how to photo tutorial

Sleeping Giant

I have been developing a series of small landscape studies that feature key locales along the shore of Lake Superior on the Canadian side of the great lake. The studies will all be the same in overall dimension size and all are horizontal. To date I have created plates for three studies. 

These are printed using a warm black Caligo safewash etching ink. Hand colouring is added to each once they have dried. No one single image off the same plate is therefore identical. 

I hope to have upwards eventually of up to 10 studies that will span locations all the way from Sault Ste. Marie Ontario west to Thunder Bay and then south down to the Minnesota border. 

Late afternoon kayak paddle - a Step by Step Photo Tutorial

The beginning stages of artwork being created on film of a new study that will feature the driftwood laden shoreline of Pukaskwa National Park and a small figure in a kayak in the water off the sandy beach. It started as a pencil sketch. I overlayed a sheet of clear wet media acetate film and added in details and textures using a refillable technical pen and then washes of tusche with brush.

 Duralar Wet media film

 Kayaker



I created the artwork and then scanned both the landscape and the kayaker at 600 dpi using a flatbed scanner on my inkjet printer unit. Once the images were imported into my photo-editing program (Corel Photopaint) I imported the saved kayaker scan and merged it into the landscape through a copy and paste application. I then saved the file. This was then resized (scaled down) to the dimensions of the polymer plate I planned to use (2 x 3.5 inches or 5 x 8 cm). I set the printer for grayscale printout and black ink only option. An A2 size of inkjet transparency sheet was placed into the paper drawer and the saved image was printed out. This served as my film positive which I exposed onto the light sensitive coated plate using UV lightsource. You can learn more about this process by visiting this post. 
http://www.myprintmakingjourney.blogspot.ca/2009/02/photopolymer-printmaking.html

The image was burned into the polymer surface by a chemical reaction to the UV and then I developed the plate using tepid water and scrubbing with an old toothbrush.  The plate was then exposed a second time to UV light to harden the polymer making the etch permanent.

positive with both landscape and kayaker on inkjet tranparency


below: developed plate with ink wiped into the etched image

detail of etch or pitted area of the plate surface. The duration of the exposure determines the depth of the etch. I also pre-expose the plate to a fine dot aquatint screen for 1 min before I expose the artwork positive. This creates a micro halftone dot pattern that will allow for tonal variations and also help keep the etch from becoming too deep.

ink application area of studio. Vegetable oil on the left for cleaning up. I also use detergent and water for cleaning off plates afterwards.

magnetic sheet to hold the stainless steel base plate steady when applying and wiping ink

tempered plate glass square which I use to mix my ink. 

Top left: rolled felt material with tape handle that I use to apply ink to the plate (dabber). Top right: ink spreader. Bottom left: wiping fabric (polyester interfacing) Bottom right: Caligo Safewash oil base ink - Carbon black and a tube containing a bit of caligo easywipe compound. I add a tiny amount of this to the oil ink to make it less tacky and spreadable.

small etching press with compressed polyester and styrene sheet bed. I place a paper template under the plexiglass which is the exact size of the paper the print will be made onto. I center the plate on template sheet and trace the outline in pencil. The inked plate can be set over top of this (as it is easily viewed through the clear acrylic sheet.) The white rectangle to the left in the photo is the cotton rag paper onto which a print will be made when it is registered with the template underneath and placed over top of the plate.

In lieu of soaking the cotton rag paper I spray it first on both sides with water. This is a little atomizer is repurposed from a throat spray. When the bottle was empty I cut a not into the plastic area that fit around the top of the glass bottle. This allowed me to remove it and set it back on the glass bottle. The little flip up wand is where the water is pumped into and it delivers a very fine spray when deployed.

after I mist the paper I quickly blot it between two pieces of newsprint. It is lightly surface dampened. As the polymer plate is quite thin I find that the inked plate won't distress the fibers of the paper as that of a thicker zinc plate might. I also don't worry about bevel of edges for the polymer plate either. I just run a burnishing tool along the outer edge of the plate to smooth any rough metal down.

setting the slightly dampened 250 gm cotton rag paper over top of the plate and lining it up with the template under the plexiglass top.

next step: I am placing a piece of newsprint over top of the cotton rag print paper

 lowering three layers of wool felts over the paper and plate.

The top roller is set to a fairly tight squeeze using the gauge levers (on top with the repurposed wine cork handle grips). I then pull the handles of the press (three spoke type of gear mechanism) and this propels the press bed forward and passes the plate, paper and blankets under the metal roller and out the opposite side.

lifting the felts on the opposite side once the bed has moved and the plate and paper have cleared the metal roller
making sure my hands are clean of any ink I then start lifting the print paper away from the plate.The moment of truth when the transferred image from  the plate appears embedded in the cotton rag print paper.

close up of the print on paper after it was removed from the press bed

 allowing prints to air dry...may take a while and then I will be able to apply colour to each through the introduction of wet media with brush

detail of kayaker from a print. The tiny dots in the water were created from the aquatint screen (tiny halftone dots) that the plate was pre-exposed to before the positive artwork.

solar plate etching A la poupée

just doing some experimentation with spot inking very small plates.
this plate is only 2 x 2 inches (50 x 50 mm). It is a solar plate with a pen and ink drawing of a chickadee I exposed onto it. Here's what happened:

• I applied caligo carbon black first and wiped back
• then using tiny rolled up felt dabbers applied on Akua intaglio pthalo blue, red oxide and burnt umber. Spot wiped these with thin tissue and tip of my pinky finger.
• The first pass looked interesting but the black in the bird wasn't reading well. Cleaned and inked the plate again in black.
• Carefully set plate into the paper where it had slightly embossed and flipped it over on the press bed and ran this through a second time. Bird emerged much better with the additional black and thankfully the plate and print were lined up perfectly, otherwise I would have gotten a double image.
• Not sure how the got a textural effect in the blue background...maybe water drops on the paper, the way the ink was wiped? None the less I am not objecting to it...gives an interesting background effect.

Forthcoming solo miniature print exhibition - final stages of preparation

For the past two years I have been developing a series of small print-based images on paper that are based on a common theme. Each one falls under the category of miniature art. The collective series is known simply as The Boreal - Small Wonders. It explores flora/fauna unique to the region of Canada that I reside in.
I utilized four techniques to achieve the series. These include serigraph, collagraph, drypoint on clear acrylic plate, polymer plate etching using both originally drawn artwork on film and photography. With the inclusion of hand colouring using watercolour and liquid acrylic inks with brush it became mixed media.

Woodland Caribou
image size: 8 x 10 cm
serigraph
2014
edition of 15

I decided to pursue this project from a small print perspective for several reasons:

• working within a preset budget determined the number of works that could be produced
• the viewer is forced to look at each from a close proximity and perhaps develop an intimate relationship in an understanding of each subject
• This personally challenged me to work in small scale and make decisions about elements like composition and fine details.

Loons (drying on board and awaiting inclusion of water base media)
photo based polymer plate etching
image size: 7 x 10 cm
open edition


My belief is that small works of art can say as much if not more than larger counterparts.

I will be uploading the entire series to my website to coincide with the exhibition towards the end of this month.

On Sunday Oct 18 I am giving a one day workshop at the gallery space to those who would like to make their own miniature polymer plate etching.

back in the studio - solar plate experimentations and mix media applications

new   Solarplate with inked image ready for first printing

I finally found some time to be creative again in the studio.
After a very busy year with practically 100% of my time occupied as an arts educator in classrooms it is nice to be able to take ideas that have been on the back-burner and realize them.
I have jumped right back into intaglio process and I am translating sketches to plate based etchings.

I also recently gave a workshop in Solar plate printmaking in the community of Kenora Ontario. 
Kenora is located on the beautiful Lake of the Woods that shares borders with the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba as well as the northwest corner of Minnesota, our nearby US neighbour state. 
The next blog entry will focus on this adventure and showcase some of the wonderful results that participants created that weekend. I had to adapt some equipment for travel and that could be set up quickly on-site during workshops.

I wanted to feature in this post a bit of process and how I have adapted solar plate to my own intaglio printmaking endeavours.

Tip for working with UV sensitive materials

I have had to work in some dark conditions with ultra-violet spectrum sensitive materials. This meant working in an environment with very little light. However I learned that LED does not emit any UV. I purchased a couple of LED multi-light flashlights at the local Discount store. These came with a small magnet on the back in addition to a pop out plastic hanger. I was able to use them in my basement studio and found I could secure them to metal ductwork installed in a ceiling right over my working area as the magnet on the back has enough hold. 

LED flashlights attached to metal ducts via magnets



Exposure unit

First I want to feature the portable darkroom booth built with the purpose to house my home-made exposure unit. I constructed that unit a few years back to use for exposing the light sensitive plates to a source of UV light when sunlight wasn't an option.

portable exposure booth set up on top of a folding workmate shop bench. You can see my small Blick etching press that I have secured with woodscrews through a base mount board into the top of a box type cabinet I constructed for my studio.

Using a simple wood frame box I built in my workshop I mounted four black light units side by side to the underside of the lid in the interior of the box. I also left an additional area where I mounted a power bar beside the lights into which all four plug into. The box is set onto four 3" x  2" (7 x 5 cm) wood feet that elevate it to  4 inches (10 cm) above the base and this leaves working room to insert a plate, positive, small clamps and smooth edged plate glass underneath the banks of lights. I don't usually work with plates larger than 8  x10 inches (20 x 25 cm) in dimension (actually a lot smaller in most cases) and this provides plenty of exposure area for my plates.
The power bar cord runs out the side of the unit and I plug this into a nearby outlet. When I travel I bring along a 3 prong receptacle extension cord as one never knows where the nearest plug-in might be located.

Since I require an area with no influence of UV light until exposure I created a fold up booth made of recycled corrugated cardboard and a black fabric drape-over curtain. 
I attached black poster paper to the interior side of the cardboard sheets with double sided tape and also set a large piece of the black paper down on the table surface underneath the exposure box. I run a yard stick or two across to span across the top of the 3 sided walls of the booth and have the fabric drape cover as a ceiling and a drop down door for the front of the booth.

Plates are generally exposed with an aquatint screen first.  The very micro size dot aquatint screen works like a half-tone to create tonal variations and pick up fine details. Exposures are usually for a shorter duration than the exposure time required for artwork on film positive or a photo based image printed out in grayscale using an inkjet printer. Tip: I set the inkjet printer to print using a black ink only option. I have an Hewlitt-Packard printer). Some printers do not have this option for black ink only as I learned with an older Epson model. That used to create a blue black from mixing colours and my images did not expose very well. For solar plate purposes I have found that a true opaque black will yield the best results, either from inkjet cartridge or india ink on acetate,etc...

blacklights engaged inside the exposure box

a plate that already was developed being post-exposed to ultra-violet light from the blacklights mounted in the unit. The post exposure cures the polymer and hardens it so that it can be used over and over to produce prints on paper.


Artwork and creating a positive on film

I had a few sketches and photo references I made of tiny blue-eyed grass blossoms I had encountered on one of my nature walks here in the region last summer.

Using a pencil sketch on paper and overlaying a clear piece of Dura-lar wet media acetate I traced the sketch in pen and ink and added background using washes of Pelikan Tusche ink with brush and water dilution. The washes would add in an interesting background with textural elements.

pen and ink/tusche wash positive (left), original pencil sketch (right)


step one: the positive was exposed to a aquatint screen (30 seconds)

Step two: then the artwork (drawn line and tusche positive) was exposed to the plate for 1 minute.

Step Three: the plate was immersed into tepid water in a metal tray that had a piece of magnetic backing (like that found on a fridge magnet business card) to hold the plate steady. Using a soft bristle toothbrush and a back and forth scrubbing motion I gently removed the areas of polymer where I wanted the etch to happen.  I scrubbed my plate for about 1.5 minutes in duration.       

                                                                                                              The chemical reaction that occurs from blocking areas of the plate with opaque elements (artwork) during exposure is what allows those areas to etch in the surface of the polymer when it is scrubbed in a water bath.

Step Four: remove the plate from the bath. Blot the plate surface quickly with a piece of newsprint and then dry the plate surface with a short blast of warm air from a portable hand held hair-dryer.

Step Five: set the plate either under the exposure box or in the sun and let it post-expose for 5 to 10 minutes. This will harden the polymer and cure it making the etched lines and pitted areas permanent and ready for printing.

Step Six: apply ink to the plate as you would to a traditionally etched plate by wiping it into the surface so that the ink is contained in the below surface lines, wipe away excess ink off the surface. Start your printing process by putting dampened rag paper over top of the inked plate and then by passing the plate under the roller of an etching press print your plate.

top: pencil sketch (left) and ink positive (right)
bottom: inked plate (left) and print on rag from plate (right)

I decided to experiment and incorporate colour to one of prints using a film based monotype. The protective plastic film that covered the plate was re-used as a surface to paint on modified Akua intaglio inks. I had first peeled it off the unexposed solar plate and had set it aside. It was the exact same dimensions as the plate itself. I saw this as an opportunity to use as a surface to be used to create a colour monotype and print on paper then print the single colour plate over top.

Using a scrap piece of glass I lay down small swatches of ink that were each mixed with a drop of Akua blending medium. This made the inks more fluid.
I inked the plate first with carbon black ink (modified with a little mag mix powder to stiffen the ink). I set the plastic over top of the inked plate.
Using the inked plate as a guide and with a soft bristle taklon brush I painted thinned inks onto the surface of the plastic. 

Once I had all the areas painted I wanted this plastic plate was carefully removed. I placed the plastic plate face up on my press bed and set a piece of dampened rag paper over top. Setting my roller to light pressure I ran the plate and paper through the roller and was left with a undefined colour image.
I took the inked solar plate and using careful registration set it inked side down facing into the monotype. I very carefully flipped this over making sure that the plate didn't shift and set it down with the inked side facing upward on the press bed. The paper was laying over top. I brought down the felts and covered everything. I  adjusted the pressure of the roller to a tight squeeze for printing an intaglio plate and ran everything through the press again.

protective plastic peel-away film being used as a surface for creating a colour monotype using thinned Akua intaglio inks

close up of application of thinned Akua ink with brush onto clear plastic plate set on top of the inked solar plate

the monotype that resulted from application of modified inks onto the clear acetate film plate

the inked solar plate was carefully registered over the colour monotype image on the rag paper and printed into the monotype to add in the definition