On the lighter upper portion of this plate, most of the series of etches incorporated white ground on top of the aquatints. My desire was to to cause a lighter etch in the mid and upper portions of this plate.
The next step on this plate was to spit-bite overall on the aquatint. Spit-bite is an etch done by painting highly concentrated acid directly onto the prepared copper plate. I used the spit-bite mostly in the middle to upper portions of this plate; also, a little in the lower areas to soften the gradations from light to dark.
2) Yellow Plate:
On this plate I used carborundum. Carborundum is a mineral, often
found in powdered form, that is used as an abrasive in printmaking.
When mixed into a paste with glue it can be easily painted on a flat
plate. When dry & hard, the paste will hold inks and can be printed
many times in a standard etching press. Inking, wiping & printing of
the plate is done the same as standard etching techniques.
For this plate, I used a very fine carborundum powder mixed into
an acrylic medium and painted on plexiglas, looking through to a copper plate placed underneath.
Printing:
My colors are recipes using Charbonnel inks printed onto
Hahnemuhle paper. The printing order for this piece is the yellow plate first--because I want those colors to float on top--and brown plate, with its darker tones, second.