Most know you can find just about anything and everything on the internet and I am no exception.
In my working with Lino cuts I've stumbled across so many variations.
"Kitchen Lithography" is for another day as it demands specific inks.
However, Dry point etching caught my eye and that's the one I've just spent 6 hours on.
I almost didn't go there as the sites all referred to Intaglio ink. In my search for alternative I came across a statement that said water soluble pencils would work as well.
Eureka!
I have two different sets. One is the Derwent brand and the other was Prismacolor. The first becomes permanent with drying and heating, the second not so. Each has it's use.
Some playing around yesterday, (while the snow dyeing did its melting thing), worked out a few kinks. Here's how today went.
My plaything of choice is the classic Disney Cheshire Cat.
He turns up a lot in my practice runs.
He makes me smile.
His lines are simple and there is a little bit of detail.
So this process starts with a piece of plastic packaging, the grocery store clamshell boxes. (This one has holes. Save it for planting.!)
Using a sharp point, (I used a leather needle) trace over your image, i.e. scratch the image onto the plastic. That's your printing plate done!
Now this one is visible ( and stained because it's been used) but your 'etching' shows well on the plastic when tilted under the light or with a dark paper behind it.
I did try several version of inks, paints, oil pastels, fabric paint and Shiva sticks yesterday, but they all seemed to dry too fast or were too thick, so I abandoned. and went for the Derwent pencils.
And success. It was a great place to stop for the day.
This little guy is on a plastic piece about about 3"x2".
Today I tackled it head on.
Using the pencils on their side I scribbled over all the etched and rough lines. This is what catches and holds the pigment.
.
I abandoned the Derwent pencils as they were a bit too greasy in cleanup. It was difficult to remove the runover that happened while 'coloring' the picture. The remaining prints were done with the Prismacolour brand.
Then I found I was out of 'art' paper. So this first success is printed on a dampened opened envelope. It is necessary to 'wet' the paper so the dry ink transfers. Using the Lino print method I worked it with a spoon. That soon became a brayer for its more thorough coverage and pressure.
Then I got cocky and thought, 'Let's jump to fabric'.
Disaster.
I discovered the limitations of the water soluble pencils on fabric. The fabric had to be wet/damp. It didn't matter so much for the paper as it's rather stable even when damp, but the fabric moved and distorted with pressure from a spoon. The brayer helped a bit.
But in addition, the colour continued to move afterwards.
Maybe at some level of dampness it would not be moving faster than the time it took to get it to the iron to dry the cloth.
That said, I abandoned cloth for today.
Hubby found me some card stock to play with.
Now the normal process of 'pressing' etchings is done with a flat roller press.
BUT someone? mentioned a pasta machine worked just fine.
And you know what? A pasta machine worked just fine.
The prints were much easier.
Instead of wetting the paper I wiped the surface with a damp cloth.
So with these big smiley faces........that's it for today.
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