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Once more unto the etching bath
Last weekend was the expressive etching course that I've been looking forward to and dreading. I couldn't get inspired to find any more source material so I decided to re-use the skull study that I've used in the last two intaglio classes and compare results.
Sugar lift etching is a very chaotic textural/tonal method, which I was quite keen to try out. Anything that distracts from my amateurish draughtsmanship is a bonus, frankly! I think you can use quite a lot of things as the "sugar", anything vaguely sticky that forms a waterproof film that dissolves quickly in hot water, I guess. We used different dilutions of instant coffee granules dissolved in water; some experimented with Camp coffee as well. Because we used aluminium plate, we didn't need to use aquatint for texture, as the etch is pretty grainy.
This is
lots of progress photos here!
1.
2. 
3. 
4.
5. 
6. 
1. The design was painted on using coffee and allowed to dry.
2. The plate is coated in a thin layer of hard ground and allowed to set hard. I've very lightly indicated some line on the ground but it didn't actually etch.
3. The plate is soaked in hot water and lightly brushed. The coffee dissolves in a semi-controlled fashion, lifting the overlying ground off of the plate and exposing the metal. This shot is actually of the second lifting result, after the plate's already been etched once.
4. The plate is etched using copper sulphate. The black areas are actually metallic copper precipitating above the areas of plate that are etching.
5. Some of the hard ground was selectively removed using solvent and the plate re-etched.
6. All of the ground was removed with solvent and highlights stopped out with Vaseline and the plate re-etched.
This is what we got:
7.
8. 
7. Early proof - following the first vaseline resist.
8. Late proof - following second vaseline resist and a bit of extra drypoint.
This plate had I think 6 or 7 rides through the etching bath! I added sutures using drypoint following the last etching and I think there is still some more burnishing/etching to be done to tidy up some bits, but I really like this technique - it comes close to the "controlled chaos" way of working that makes me happy!
Sugar lift etching is a very chaotic textural/tonal method, which I was quite keen to try out. Anything that distracts from my amateurish draughtsmanship is a bonus, frankly! I think you can use quite a lot of things as the "sugar", anything vaguely sticky that forms a waterproof film that dissolves quickly in hot water, I guess. We used different dilutions of instant coffee granules dissolved in water; some experimented with Camp coffee as well. Because we used aluminium plate, we didn't need to use aquatint for texture, as the etch is pretty grainy.
This is
lots of progress photos here!
1.
2. 3. 4.
5. 6. 1. The design was painted on using coffee and allowed to dry.
2. The plate is coated in a thin layer of hard ground and allowed to set hard. I've very lightly indicated some line on the ground but it didn't actually etch.
3. The plate is soaked in hot water and lightly brushed. The coffee dissolves in a semi-controlled fashion, lifting the overlying ground off of the plate and exposing the metal. This shot is actually of the second lifting result, after the plate's already been etched once.
4. The plate is etched using copper sulphate. The black areas are actually metallic copper precipitating above the areas of plate that are etching.
5. Some of the hard ground was selectively removed using solvent and the plate re-etched.
6. All of the ground was removed with solvent and highlights stopped out with Vaseline and the plate re-etched.
This is what we got:
7.
8. 7. Early proof - following the first vaseline resist.
8. Late proof - following second vaseline resist and a bit of extra drypoint.
This plate had I think 6 or 7 rides through the etching bath! I added sutures using drypoint following the last etching and I think there is still some more burnishing/etching to be done to tidy up some bits, but I really like this technique - it comes close to the "controlled chaos" way of working that makes me happy!