Steam, etching, plus the usual
Sep. 4th, 2012 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnommiAugust continued to be a "blah" month, with flashes of outright suicidal and incipient mid-life crisis. However, managed a weekend etching course at Red Hot Press, which was very fun. They use a non-toxic (rather, *less* toxic) method akin to electrolysis, that uses copper sulphate to etch aluminium plates. In keeping with my generally morose mood, the following was perpetrated... From photo to print in about a week, via sketch, application of hard ground and incising, etching the line, stopping out with straw hat varnish and re-etching several times to apply tone, adding some texture using vaseline, a bit of drypoint and burnishing back multiple areas. I think around 6-8 trips through the etching bath! Did a lot of variants with simultaneous monoprinting/colouring a la poupee/overprinting but in the end plain ol' umber mixed with sepia was my favourite.
Feeling a little less horrible today, though not entirely sure why. Something seems to have lifted a bit, maybe because I've decided to abandon plans for a 40th birthday party and just go away somewhere instead.
The liberal application of heavy engineering and steam at The Great Dorset Steam Fair last weekend also helped immensely. Came home with copious amounts of soot in my hair, covered in mud and with a sprained wrist - gawping at traction engines team ploughing and not looking where I was going. Sigh... Went on the traction engine-powered Steam Yachts*: screamed like a girl every time I shot out of my seat at the top of each arc. Even if the brain did keep yelling "just remember your physics!" the stomach was convinced I was going to die. Didn't stop shaking for a good 15mins afterwards. Brilliant! Lord only knows how they managed it in crinolines** without the struts at the side to hang on to... made of stern stuff, these people in the past. I now also want my official title to be "Centripetal Governor".
*This is the actual one I went on, but not my video.
**OK, so these were probably Edwardian/1920s, but still - corsetry!
Feeling a little less horrible today, though not entirely sure why. Something seems to have lifted a bit, maybe because I've decided to abandon plans for a 40th birthday party and just go away somewhere instead.
The liberal application of heavy engineering and steam at The Great Dorset Steam Fair last weekend also helped immensely. Came home with copious amounts of soot in my hair, covered in mud and with a sprained wrist - gawping at traction engines team ploughing and not looking where I was going. Sigh... Went on the traction engine-powered Steam Yachts*: screamed like a girl every time I shot out of my seat at the top of each arc. Even if the brain did keep yelling "just remember your physics!" the stomach was convinced I was going to die. Didn't stop shaking for a good 15mins afterwards. Brilliant! Lord only knows how they managed it in crinolines** without the struts at the side to hang on to... made of stern stuff, these people in the past. I now also want my official title to be "Centripetal Governor".
*This is the actual one I went on, but not my video.
**OK, so these were probably Edwardian/1920s, but still - corsetry!