Monday, August 11, 2008

Collagraph Experiments

I'm using the process from the book INTAGLIO...
not happy with two coats of Lascaux hard ground, topped with one of soft...
I went to 4 coats of hard ground and two of the soft.
I let each coat dry before the next
and let the whole mess dry overnight...
I've had problems with the grounds tearing/pulling....I believe my plates are clean, and properly prepared.

Once I wanted to see how easy it would be to get off an older experiment....
ha...no way...probably going to have to buy the Lascaux remover.

I've no idea if the soft ground is just the hard ground with additive to slow the drying...
but, it seems that it's easier to work/scratch through than their hard ground...
(this is definately not an etching needle gliding smoothly through hard ground on a polished plate)

Booger (also from next post) was done with the 2 & 1.

I recoated it with two more coats of the hard ground and another couple of the soft...
scratched through it when it was really dry and printed...Rives lightweight..

Toxic on the left is the best print (GraphicChemical paper) I could get with the 2 and 1....
a couple more coats of hard, and another two of the soft....
more scratching through...and the two prints on the left are what I got last night.

The one of me started with 4 coats of hard and two of the soft....
and the lines were deeper....


My problem is either in my printing...getting used to the press...
or I'm just needing practice...probably...
or maybe this is just what I'm going to get with this...
but, there is more information on the plates than is printing.

In the book is mention of finer pigmented ink for drypoints..
when wiping the plates...these feel like drypoints...especially in the blacks.

I'm using Graphic Chemical etching ink.
My plates are aluminum flashing....3.5" x 5".