I had limited time as this was a morning session of two and a half hours before work. I decided to keep things simple and do some subtractive monoprints using only black ink (hawthorn 'stay open' ink). I used a thin perspex plate and, because I was not anticipating producing any masterpieces today I chose to print only onto newsprint to keep the costs down.
I first attempted a subtractive print based on one of my 'immigrant' sketches from my small sketchbook. The result had some interesting passages but there were some problems - I felt I had subtracted too much ink on one side and the print was quite light. Not as powerful as I would have liked for the imagery used.
I tried selectively re-inking certain areas and re-printing a ghost print. The ghost print was not impressive. It was really too light but would potentially serve as a base to work back into with other media.
Having had little success with the figurative drawing I decided to just go abstract with mark making for my next attempt. I re- inked the plate all over and splashed what I thought was white spirit onto the plate. Waited a while for it to eat into the ink and then blotted it off with more newsprint. It was only later on when talking to another printmaker that I realised I had used Lincoln wash by mistake. Nevertheless, the marks on the plate were quite exciting. I drew into the areas around the solvent marks and did some repetitive lines. I printed this onto dry cartridge paper. The result was far too light and the marks made by the solvent just weren't visible.
I tried again and this time I but a thicker layer of ink on the plate and printed straight away after blotting off the solvent rather than hanging around and drawing into the plate. The result was darker and there were some more interesting marks. However, it was only at this point that I noticed that it had printed much lighter on one side of the paper than the other. I realised that I had adjusted the pressure on the small etching press incorrectly and the pressure was much higher on one side than the other. I adjusted the pressure and tried again - this time I inked the plate and just drew a rapid continuous line drawing based on one of my sketchbook drawings of a sheep. The print showed that I still had not got the pressure equal.
I took the pressure completely off the press. Adjusted the printmakers blankets and re-established the pressure as high as I could manage, attempting to get the pressure even on both sides (this has to be done by feel on this particular press as there are no numbers on the bolts). I re-inked the plate and did another quick line drawing of a sheep which I printed as a bleed print (on paper slightly smaller than the large plate). The pressure and inking at the edges was much better but the print was still a bit thin at the centre. I don't know whether this was because there was insufficient ink in the centre or whether a bit more padding is needed at the centre.
Unfortunately, by this time I had to clean up so I came away somewhat frustrated that I had not produced any presentable prints. However, I was also satisfied that I had got more experience and was able to identify some press-related problems and find solutions without having someone standing by to advise me.
What I learnt:
- Pay close attention to the adjustment of the pressure on the etching press
- It would be good idea to print a trial print from an inked up plate of the same thickness as the one you will be using to check the pressure on the press is even
- The amount of in on the plate and the pressure of the press make a great deal of difference to the final result.
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