Non toxic etching with the Printmaking Sisters

The second workshop we did with the sisters was Aluminium etching - instead of using traditional noxious etching substances, they showed us how to achieve good effects using non toxic solutions
.
This workshop was a bit more  prone to errors as the etching process itself is more complex.
These are the etchings I did... more or less exploring the different effects that could be obtained.

This one below has line work and tone in the waves

This one below uses 2 plates and chin colle.. pity about the yuk colour ink

 This uses line work and tone and chin colle

 This has several depths of tonal etch

Etching workshop with Christine Willcocks

During the break we did a workshop with Christine Willcocks - she is a printmaker who uses a special kind of card to create etched plates. These are then inked up in the usual intaglio manner. The advantage f the card is that it does not require acid to etch it, and unlike collographs, it does not need to be shellaced.

A lovely clean way to get some fine prints. Good for travelling

Only 'disadvantage' is low print run numbers .... but that can be a plus. And they can dent easily - so they are a bit more fragile than usual plates. Below is the image I played around with to see what was possible.

 the plate

the print

Brunswick St Gallery Small Works

These are my entries for BSG Small works exhibition open from  June 14th - 30th June.
Opening night June 17th 6pm.

These are etchings which I have been working on for some time

Printmaking class

Having thought lots about these prints, I have created plates from pasteboard and acetate plates to decide which I like best.
These are smallish- around 8x10 inches.
Here are the proofs.

And these are the pasteboard plates.

The plates start to take on a character of their own after they have been printed a few times.