27/5 /15 

Second Transfer Stone

Removed the tape I'd placed on the 2nd transfer stone (except in a couple of places as a test to see what marks are produced by either removing the tape straight away whilst the stone is dry or after dampening the stone.)
Much easier to remove tapes when they are dry ! When wet they became tacky- some of gum left on stone so etch and thus mark produced will be patchy. Stone dried and dusted with French chalk (FC) then etched stone using diluted 50% atzol.
Stone left to rest overnight prior to second etch

                                                          2nd Transfer Stone

Grained 1st transfer stone that I had initially done to remove image - took 2 hours ! 
I found  2 small stones that had been used to grain the bigger stones that I thought would be interesting to work directly on (to work on a different scale). The edges were filed as best as possible to see if it was possible to print from them.

                               Small graining stones filed and grained to see if could be used
                                                                     to print from

28-5-15 

Small Stone 1 
For my next project I wanted to know best way of creating a grid like structure on stone that remained light. Serena suggested using gum Arabic brown tape (like the stuff you use for sticking down watercolour paper when you are stretching it). Using my trusty micromasking tapes that I use all the time in my painting I stuck these down on the non sticky side of the gum Arabic tape - then using a scalpel cut thin strips of the gum Arabic tape. 
Where possible I tried to remove the micromasking tape from the gum Arabic tape after cutting the strips  as I found the strips stuck better when it was absent.

I then stuck these down on to one of my small 'rescued' stones - creating a grid like pattern. This was really going to be just used as a test stone to see what marks and tones could be achieved. Once they were all stuck down (it was a bit faffy and they didn't always go where I first intended!) I then tried different dry materials to create blacks.
On the right hand side I rolled Noir A Monter ink (NAM) with a nap roller. This gave interesting marks but left spaces around the tape edges where the roller didnt reach.
On the bottom left I got a bit of sticky NAM ink and added a few drops of turps and rubbed it on with a finger - this gave a dense black and was easy to get into the corners of the tapes. Top left I used a rubbing block - I then added litho crayon around some of the edges of the tape which had gaps -and also painted a wash in some areas of pure turps and NAM ink to give different tonal values.

                                           Small stone 1 with gum arabic tapes and different tusches


I then dusted the stone down with French Chalk and put on first etch using atzol solution (30% nitric acid :70% GA) diluted 1:1 atzol : GA solution) and left to rest (both stone and me until next week!)

Blog 3/6/15

Small Stone 1
Tapes removed  as best as could whilst stone was dry but it was easier to get off when wet so dampened with sponge. Once all removed - an inky turpsy rag was run into all crevices.

                                                      
                                                Small stone 1 with tapes removed

Dried stone - then a thin layer of NAM ink rolled on.
Stone rotated 90 degrees at intervals to ensure even rolling of ink - some areas took a while to build up the ink
Dried stone - then second etched using  atzol.The edges of the stone were filed and sandpapered .
I scratches a few lines in for detail to sharpen the image and produce areas of shade  - strong acid was placed in areas that I wanted to lighten. Medium strength acid was brushed on with broad brush in dark areas to pick up detail. The stone was French Chalked and gum arabic (GA) placed and the stone  left to rest.

Transfer stone 2

Washed out and printed 9 proofs - on various papers - newsprint, kitchen and Lambeth paper. Edges really poor so ink accumulating around edge of stone - hot in studio!. - stone seemed to dry out quickly. Excess ink accumulating in areas where I didn't want it like before !
Serena later said this was because the whole stone needed an Atzol wash in order to clean things up.
Some interesting marks produced - I liked the effects of oil pastel on concrete wall. A more defined clear line was produced when the tapes were pulled off dry rather than when they were wetted prior to removing. Although this wasn't always predictable !

                                                          Print from Transfer stone 2



Blog 4/6/15 

In morning Nina (the other litho fellow) and myself visited De Montford University archives to look at work of Birgit Skiold - printmaker (1923- 82) we looked at examples of her work  spanning across 3 decades. Birgit was a Swedish printmaker who settled in London and was a founder member of the British Printmaking Council and really getting printmaking to be regarded as fine art. She worked with many techniques including lithography, blind embossing and etching - often combining techniques. Her early lithographs were particularly fresh with excellent colour combinations and a variety of mark making. It was interesting to see what colours could be produced using different coloured inks and opacities producing a wide palette from a limited number if plates. She worked largely on zinc for her lithographs rather than stone.

Birgit Skiold Lithograph

                                                     Nina and myself in archives of DMU

In the afternoon we returned to the print studio and I continued to work on my small test stone by taking proof prints.
Initially I took about 8 prints using etching ink with no additives and a small roller - unfortunately this didn't bring up the fine detail in the centre of the stone so Serena suggested increasing the pressure and adding a few drops of plate oil to make the ink softer. This improved things a little but not that much! She then suggested I switch to non drying ink (NAM) on a nap roller and use damp paper. This improved things a lot but the nap roller made it difficult to keep the edges clean and also I found that the ink was accumulating too much in areas that had previously been printing well!!

                       

                                    Print from small stone 1 using non drying ink (NAM) and nap roller

Serena suggested applying strong acid to the edges and an acid wash to the really dark areas to open them up a bit. The stone was then left to rest until next week.

                                                                Small stone 1 re-etched

Looking at the prints produced - I was keen to produce a pale grid like structure - this was achieved best when the masking tape was stuck to the GA paper and then the marks either side scored with a scalpel and then treated carefully with strong acid. The velvety black areas were best achieved by using NAM diluted with turps and painted with a brush.

I had a second small stone that I prepared last week and Serena suggested it might be better to degrease this thoroughly before drawing on it.
This was done by diluting a standard solution of acetic acid (1:9 dilution) further by a 1:3 dilution with water. This was then poured over the stone and the stone washed to remove all the acid. This was then repeated and the stone dried with a hair dryer . Serena still felt it didn't look chalky enough so suggested I repeat this again next week.