Join the Q: In Which Sasha Does Some More Art
Created | Updated Aug 26, 2018
Join the Q: In Which Sasha Does Some More Art
A few weeks ago I took part in an art workshop where I lerned some techniques for sketching and then produced a simple print of one of my sketches. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to try to sign up for the follow-up workshop that promised to teach me a more advanced printing technique. Only a few places were available, but I was lucky enough to secure a ticket. On the day, I felt much less daunted than last time, as I knew where I was going and a bit more about what to expect. The chap whose portrait I drew during the sketching workshop wasn't there, but I did meet the person I sat with when we were sketching buildings outside, as well as friendly people I had not met before.
The session began with the tutor showing us a variety of prints that she had done. We first learned about etching, which involves scraping out a design on to a plate of metal coated with wax, then putting the plate in a chemical bath so that the exposed metal is eaten away while the areas covered by the wax are protected. When the wax is cleaned off, the plate can be coated with ink to print the design on to paper (the ink is only held the acid-made grooves, not the flat areas). This technique creates a crisp image with sharp lines that is good for depicting buildings.
The technique we would be using, though, was drypoint. This involves using a sharp needle to scrape a design directly into a surface such as metal (we used perspex). The 'burrs' of material scraped away by the needle generate a softer image when printed, making this technique good for portraits or misty scenes. However, the burrs wear away a bit each time a print is made, so a drypoint plate is not as durable as an etched one.
We practised making marks with the needle on scrap pieces of perspex, and then it was time to commit to a design. Some people chose to do geometric patterns, but I decided to take inspiration from the artists Whistler and Pennell and choose a dockside scene, which I copied from a handy photograph.
The skills I had learned at the sketching workshop stood me in excellent stead for this task. I didn't worry about making 'mistakes', I just concentrated on making marks and building up textures so as to evoke the scene on the perspex. The tutor was impressed by the amount of detail I captured in a relatively short space of time.
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Next, it was time to prepare the plate for printing. We had to apply ink to the plate, then rub it into the incised lines using a piece of cloth with an open weave that didn't absorb all the ink. The ink was then wiped off so as to leave only the lines full. Different tools enabled different effects - tissue paper wiped the whole plate clean while cotton buds (Q-tips) allowed some areas to be cleaned fully and other areas to retain a haze of ink. The inked plate would then be placed on damp cotton-rich paper in a small printing press and the design would be applied to the paper.
For my first attempt, I used the cotton buds to add highlights and left everything else hazy. To my surprise the print turned out well - better than I had expected, even - so I was pleased with the result. However, I felt I could do better in terms of representing the stormy sky in the photograph I copied. I re-inked the plate, used tissue paper to brighten the whole foreground, and then used the open-weave cloth to stipple ink into the sky. This was the ultimate success - the image turned out exactly as I had visualised!
By this stage, other people were packing their things away as they were satisfied with what they had done, but we still had half an hour left before the workshop officially finished. I decided to have another go. This time I tried to combine the previous two prints - I used the cotton buds to add highlights, applied tissue paper in other areas, and used the open-weave cloth to stipple the sky again. The resulting image didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, not least because by then my hands were dirty so I put an inky fingerprint on it by mistake, but even so I was glad I did it because it showed how the plate had deteriorated - a line in the foreground had almost disappeared because the burrs had worn away, and the cloth had scratched the perspex enough to create harsh swirls of ink in the sky rather than the soft effect I had been aiming for.
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As in the last workshop, I was impressed by how much I had managed to achieve in a relatively short time. This time I am even more pleased with the results!
