Sandpaper Aquatint!

As few chemicals as possible.

It’s no surprise that ferric acid is hard to purchase, and dangerous to handle. Rosin powder and spray enamel to create the fine gray tones of an aquatint are far easier to obtain, and equally volatile.
Asthma + super fine rosin particles x enamel fumes = BAD NEWS
Lucky for me, and all you printmakers that don’t want to build a spinning rosin box, there is the sand paper method.



Typically, this method is used by running a hard ground coated plate with a piece of sandpaper over it through an etching press. I use transparent ball ground to save on the mess and the pocketbook, and had a feeling that it was too delicate a resist to survive the press method. Also, I do not keep ‘stop out’ solution around to block off areas I want to go un-aquatinted. What to do?
Hello bone folder! Cutting the sand paper into strips allows you to hand rub the tone you are looking for into small or large pieces of the plate. You can also cut the sand paper into curves that compliment your image. No bone folder? Use the burnishing end of your drypoint needle. The sand cuts tiny dimples into your ground that the acid will eat away at, creating a chemical free aquatint (uh, chemical free other than acid I mean). Change up the grade of sand paper to create coarse or fine shades, or pull your plates from the bath as you etch and burnish more as you go to get heavier shadow.
This is time consuming and won’t offer the super delicate gradation of rosin, nor is it as fast as spray enamel. This is best compared to using an irregular roulette. It does, however, offer minimal toxins, cost and equipment!

Talking to Myself in a Basement: Polyester plates

Talking to Myself in a Basement: Polyester plates

http://electrofork.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/polyester-plate-lithography/

Talking to Myself in a Basement: Warning, some of these chemicals can land you on a watch list.

Talking to Myself in a Basement: Warning, some of these chemicals can land you on a watch list.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-using-Ferric-Chloride-etchant!--A-better-etc/

Warning, some of these chemicals can land you on a watch list.

Instructables “stop using Ferric Chloride etchant! (A better etching solution.)
Once again, I’m making a batch of acid as per the instructable websites’ recipe.

This time I used a jelly jar with measuring lines on it, because eye-balling it may have contributed to the messy bite I experienced previously.


The giant bottle of Muriatic acid I have tucked away was still all kinds of toxic fuming badness.(it is over a year old at this point)




I imagine this is what crazy purple knock out gas smells like. (if you do this at home, try not to breath)

The recipe says the etch went super quick when the acid is new. However, to achieve a proper intaglio bite, I sloshed these around in the bath for an hour or four.
Their etchant when fresh does not bite through sharpie marker typically, but it does bite messily through sharpie paint pens. This second method creates something similar to white ground, only a bit more rough. This method also turns the etching solution a disturbing black.



My thoughts; this etchant is great when it's new and slowly becomes less and less effective over time, dispite 'recharging' it. The only real problem with this stuff is having to evaporate it down to crystals to dispose of it...and even then I'm not sure know safe this is to be sent to a land fill.

Ant arthandlers sneek peak

Betsabeé Ramiro at the Neuberger museum
I want so much to post pictures of Ms. Romeros’ sprawling show at the Neuberger this month. I was lucky enough to be one of the Art Handlers called in to put the show up as well as work with the curator. Picture a high ceilinged gallery filled with gorgeous wooden crates stamped with black symbols and stacked one on top of the other.
Then we opened them.
The first object of Romero’s I set my eyes on was a carved tire with gilded tread and I said to my partner “I love it, its gilded rubbish.”
The overarching theme of this exhibition strikes me as the reclamation of beauty from broken industrial objects; cars and all their parts mostly.

Betsabeé Romero Black Tears (I can't spell it in sapanish)

Betsabeé Romero at the Neuberger museum
I want so much to post pictures of Ms. Romero’s’ sprawling show at the Neuberger this month. I was lucky enough to be one of the Art Handlers called in to put the show up as well as work with the curator. Picture a high ceilinged gallery filled with gorgeous wooden crates stamped with black symbols and stacked one on top of the other.
Then we opened them.
The first object of Romero’s I set my eyes on was a carved tire with gilded tread and I said to my partner “I love it, its gilded rubbish.”
The overarching theme of this exhibition strikes me as the reclamation of beauty from broken industrial objects; cars and all their parts mostly. You’ll be greeted by a dynamic use of found objects modified by this Mexican sculptor, from rear view mirrors laboriously decaled with stylized roses to complete cars encrusted with a mosaic blanket of broken glass, velvet and much more. Romero even recruited the visual arts student from next door to the museum to build an all new sculpture from a junked car, this one having an ocean theme.
The only drawback to this show is that there was so much we had to leave in the crates! Several giant photographs are still tucked away in their crates, longing for the loving attention of art enthusiasts. Trios of these 3’x7’ (approx.) photos are particularly interesting, showing a series of installations Romero did in Mexico City of taxi cab top embedded into the ground to reflect the original level the city once stood at. I also feel this series speaks to the migratory nature of the Mexican population, and how Mexico is very much a doorway between south/central America and the USA. This same theme of emigration is touched upon with a brick house constructed from bricks Romero had cast in distinctive molds she created.
Google her work, and you’ll know what I mean.

Polyester plates

Pronto Plates
Want lithography without the giant stone?
Tough.
A lot of people insist that polyester prints are a type of lithography, including one of my favorite teachers from undergrad. It is a cheap, fast method of creating line drawing style images in printed format. Sounds like silk screen doesn’t it?
Here’s a site I found helpful in breaking down the process. untidy revelations
You need A LOT of water for this process, and forsake grey tones. I think pronto plates are best for their original purpose, which was magazine and advertisement. As you can run these plates through a printer as well as draw directly onto it with marker of crayon, I think a funky cook book is in order.
As far as the fine art of the polyester plate, I’m not so sure that is for me.

Drip drip.

So, now a I have a new leak...only this time the water is kinda hot and from an exposed pipe. Ironically, this happened right after chatting with one of my landlords and being told we (at sliced bread studios) were their favorite tenants because I didn't freak out when I called them to fix things. A t this point I think I should freak out, cause this leak was "fixed" last month after it destroyed my poly litho plates. But when I called, I just couldn't yell at them or be rude. I guess it's better to be sweet about it anyway. Let's see how many times this leak it 'fixed' before it's fixed.

Closet: Before and After

We say a sad farewell to Chris, our sculptor in Sliced Bread Studios, and hello to a huge closet now free of boxes. What does one do with a deep closet that has its own light fixture and electrical socket? You turn it into a kitchenette, of course! After an inexplicable communication error between Painter and Printmaker left us with a table wholly unsuited to the space provided, I decided to build a shelf for our fringe and microwave on my own. This was a thoroughly rewarding venture as I took responsibility for the process from beginning to end.
The hurdles worth noting are thus:
I was completely unfamiliar with the new table saw and couldn’t find the manual. Can I stress enough how important it is to have the giant circular bladed mystery machine Unplugged when tugging at random switches on it? No, no I cannot. After cutting most of the boards with an electric handsaw I finally discovered the secrets of lifting the dumb things arm and used it to make the table legs from 2x4s.Also, the hand tools on batteries ran out of juice rather quickly. Lucky for me, Greg has a circular hand saw, a hand jig saw and a table saw, so I managed to jump between them all in the process, giving which ever one needed it the time to charge. Lastly, I have no car. I do, however, have piles and piles of leftover 2x4s, scrap pine and MDF scavenged for the most part from Greg’s various jobs.
Working the math out exactly took more time than anything else, but really, the phase “measure twice, cut once’’ can’t be stressed enough.
In the end, I had designed and built a counter (with a tiny flaw here and there) that left me feeling like Conan the Conqueror.

I Miss Her Already....*sniff sniff*

Becuase I have the most wonderful Greg as an informant, I was able to sneak a monoprint called "Surma in Morning Light" into a Fundraiser auction at Leahman College Gallery at the very last minute. Greg, working as an Art Handler, calls me up at 4 pm and askes if I'd like to sell some art and if so I need to have the peice framed, curated and ready to go for early the next motning. I'm thinking, 'yay, more exposure...if only I were getting paid!" when he says, oh, yeah, and they'll split the purchase price with you as well. That night a bundled up two works, my smallest collagraph and one of my surma girl Doll Heads. Greg took both. My collagraph was sent back to me due to space constraints, but when I attended the opening night I discaovered they had listed my Monoprint Surma girl as my Collagraph. I freaked out for a half second, sure no one would buy it because it was so obviously misslabled. The fact that the spelled my name correctly and served great punch made everything OK. Then, as the night winds down I finnally see my peice hung next to Greg's miniature painting and I'm chatting away at how great the show is when greg finally points out the red dot sticker next to my print. I shrug and say, 'Yeah...so?"
"so, someone really liked it, cause they bought it"
Que me jumping up and down giggling like a shameless bunny on speed.
So , two down, 126 to go and counting.