Lesley from Printed Material sent me some great information a while back about gum-arabic transfer etching, written by her friend and printmaker Sue Brown.
I have been meaning to try it out for ages and the other day thought I had to give it a go. I had an idea in mind and thought this might be the technique to help me get there. You see, as a calligrapher, it's quite hard to do calligraphic printmaking as the letters are always reversed.
If I write into or onto a plate beautifully, then if I print it, the lettering will be reversed. If I try to write backwards, well all the beauty of the writing gets lost and it looks a bit more like a child having a go at running writing for the first time.
It is possible to do, but I am yet to find the best method for me.
Which brings me to this transfer technique. I had quite a fine time trialling and testing and apart from one plate which I left to bite for too long - it took everything away including the resist.
I won't go into the details, but a few descriptions might help along the way. I am NO expert as will be revealed…
A carbon-based print of a photograph began the day. Nice and dark and full of contrast. I had to get mine photocopied as I don't have a laser printer.
This was soaked with gum arabic front and back and then wet and placed faced down on the plate.
I used the press to push the transfer onto the plate and got a reasonable result. Not a lot of the resist transferred, but enough I hoped.
Then I etched in copper sulphate solution, and apart from one of the plates as mentioned; these two came out OK…
And then I printed, which was fun. I love the graininess of the image, and yes I learnt a lot about not smearing the wet resist with fingers!
The W didn't come out as well; I think I probably needed more contrast in the original copy as well as better-timed biting. So many things to think about. And more finger-smudging...
What I like about this process is if I started with beautiful writing and made a copy of it; then it would be transferred in reverse onto the plate, then would appear the right way round once printed. Quite a bit of fun to be had here I think...
I have been meaning to try it out for ages and the other day thought I had to give it a go. I had an idea in mind and thought this might be the technique to help me get there. You see, as a calligrapher, it's quite hard to do calligraphic printmaking as the letters are always reversed.
If I write into or onto a plate beautifully, then if I print it, the lettering will be reversed. If I try to write backwards, well all the beauty of the writing gets lost and it looks a bit more like a child having a go at running writing for the first time.
It is possible to do, but I am yet to find the best method for me.
Which brings me to this transfer technique. I had quite a fine time trialling and testing and apart from one plate which I left to bite for too long - it took everything away including the resist.
I won't go into the details, but a few descriptions might help along the way. I am NO expert as will be revealed…
A carbon-based print of a photograph began the day. Nice and dark and full of contrast. I had to get mine photocopied as I don't have a laser printer.
This was soaked with gum arabic front and back and then wet and placed faced down on the plate.
I used the press to push the transfer onto the plate and got a reasonable result. Not a lot of the resist transferred, but enough I hoped.
Then I etched in copper sulphate solution, and apart from one of the plates as mentioned; these two came out OK…
And then I printed, which was fun. I love the graininess of the image, and yes I learnt a lot about not smearing the wet resist with fingers!
The W didn't come out as well; I think I probably needed more contrast in the original copy as well as better-timed biting. So many things to think about. And more finger-smudging...
What I like about this process is if I started with beautiful writing and made a copy of it; then it would be transferred in reverse onto the plate, then would appear the right way round once printed. Quite a bit of fun to be had here I think...
An intriguing printmaking method - I'd never heard of it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt has intrigued me form afar for a while; but I finally thought I should sit down have a go Sharmon! Interesting, and lots of possibilities. Go well.
DeleteOooooooo...playing is such fun, and productive too.
ReplyDeleteEven playing with a kind of purpose in the back of your head is fun Jo!
DeleteI think this will lead somewhere exciting Fiona ... I will be watching!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly has potential to go some places Susan - not sure just where yet, but then that's half the fun of it I guess!
DeleteWhen I saw the heading with two of my favourite words in it - playing and printing - I knew I was in for a treat and then to read on and see you've tried Sue's technique, was an even better surprise. I think there's a lot of scope in this process for a calligrapher Fiona, precisely because you don't have to make your original photocopy reversed. It means you can copy something real size, right way,and let the transfer reverse it for printing for you. Looking forward to more samples.....
ReplyDeleteI am hoping I can master it a bit better than my first attempts Lesley - but I am so glad I tried! It does offer me calligraphic hope I must say; I shall play again soon. Go well.
DeleteThis looks exciting Fiona, love trying new techniques and seeing where they will lead. Waiting for the next instalment!
ReplyDeleteI love Liz, how you are so good at trying a new something - paper - and keeping on pushing and pushing and seeing where it leads. I end up being more stop start than that, yet I think if I kept trying I could push somewhere really good. I shall endeavour to keep taking this approach further and seeing what happens...
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