Blog 8-7-15 - ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS

I carried on working on my Park Hill stone - gum arabic was placed on the stone and then I scratched further lines in (using a steel etching needle) to give  more definition. Mistakes were corrected by applying more gum Arabic. Once this was completed a turpsy rag with Noir a Monter ink was rubbed into grooves - the stone was warmed with hair dryer and french chalk dusted lightly over the image. A thin layer of gum arabic was placed over the stone and when this was dabbed gently with a sponge it picked up the surplus ink leaving the image beneath. The gum arabic was then dried with a hair dryer and the stone left to rest overnight
The first large landscape stone that I did and the Small stone 1 were washed out with turps to remove the ink and then oil patch cleaner placed for 30 mins. This was then removed and washed off and graining started!

9/7/15
Some of the lines that I scratched into yesterday and covered with ink wernt very obvious so needed re scratching!
The drawing was washed out and a very thin layer of noir a monter ink was rolled on to see wha tlines had been achieved. The stone was covered with french chalk and gum arabic and dried.

Noir a monter ink on a turpsy rag was rubbed into the new lines made and a damp cloth rubbed over to remove excess ink. The stone was then rolled over again with noir a monter using the nap roller - this also picked up excess ink. The stone was  warmed with hair dryer for 10 mins and french chalk and gum arabic placed.
(Before whenI  rubbed ink into the lines the excess ink was removed with GA this time because the stone had already been inked we used water to repel.)
A second etch was then placed using an all over wash of 30% Atzol and then medim strength acid was brushed into the splattered areas in the top right hand corner of the print. The stone was left to rest until next week.

             

                                    Stone with inked in scratched areas (railings of stairs in tall central block)


Blog 15/7/15 - PROOFING PARK HILL STONE

Multilpe proofs were taken off the Park Hill stone initially using a combination of inks ( 60% Noir a monter : 40% Crayon Black ink and a little poppy red etching ink to warm up the black hue) - 5 proofs were taken on newsprint - using a Nap roller as recommended by Serena - (I was a little disconcerted initially as Serena has always said we must NEVER use anything but pure NAM on the nap roller !!) (A thin layer of NAM though was rolled on roller first to protect the roller before rolling up the mix )
Things didnt go well initially ! -The ink was a bit thin, the scraper bar a bit short and the pressure too tight!- Serena suggested moving to the other press and use a larger scraper bar and modify ink ! More Crayon black was added (so it was more like a 50:50 mix) these modifications seemed to work - printed 15 prints - 2 on Fabriano 2 on Lambeth 4 on kitchen paper 7 on newsprint
Care needed not to dampen paper too much! - paper was too wet on several proofs and buckled under pressure.


Here's one of the prints produced!

as it was the end of the day -GA placed - The drawing washed outwashed outand a thin layer of NAM placed (after cleaning the roller to remove CB combo). French chalk was dusted on the stone and then a diluted 50% soutionl of atzol placed to etch darker areas of the image a bit more.

16/7/15 
Using sharpened pumice stick - (a bit like a hard pastel crayon) selected areas of the stone were  pumiced to remove blobs and mistakes! Strong etch placed - areas that wanted to lighten were also pumiced gently keeping the stone wet. The stone was re gummed and dried.

Next I Re grained the first large landscape stone and the small park hill 2 stone.

I am keen to add some colour to the prints so a stencil was made to monoprint colour on top next time

 n

17/6/15

New large stone that I had started to grain last week was finished off.

Small stone 2 - The edges were prepared and treated with strong acid to clean them up.
The stone was inked up using Crayon Black and Noir A Monter ink with a small soft roller.
12 proofs were taken - some of the areas were becoming very dark so these were re etched with medium acid to lighten them.

                               Print from Small Stone 2 using NAM / Crayon Black ink


18-6-15 

Cleaned up edges of small stone 2 using strong nitric acid

Inked up small stone 2 in blue etching ink (no additive) using a soft roller -Was furring up in places (largely due to an inadvertent finger print !) started scratching defects away when Serena said that it would be better to re etch the stone first.So washed out stone (Keeping stone really wet before I used turpss o that diluted ink wouldn't go into scratch marks I had already made). Then dampening stone a thin layer of NAM ink was rolled on using a small roller instead of the nap as the nap would ruin/ mark the edges of the stone. French chalk was dusted on and then etched again the whole surface of stone with a dilute solution of  Atzol (75% Atzol :25% gum.)  Areas which were going too dark were selectively etched with strong nitric acid and the gum dried . The stone was left to rest until next week

Started to draw on large stone that grained yesterday . 
I had a rough sketch of the image of Park Hill Flats that I wanted to use on newsprint - I rubbed red oxide on to the back of the drawing and using a pen transferred it go the stone . I Started sticking micro masking tapes down as before.
Asked serena the best way to create fine lines - she got me a sharpened hard litho crayon but also suggested trying fine nibs and ink or fine nibs and inky soap solution or alternately scratching and rubbing ink in after second etching /first proofs are taken .

19/6/15
On the train home yesterday I realised that I had omitted to wash large new stone with acetic acid prior to sticking tapes down and on the test stone that I did  previuosly - washing it with a vinegar solution gave a much better result !!. Consequently I decided to remove tapes I had placed and regrain the stone (I always learn the hard way ! ) one hour later I was back where I started with a clean stone. I transferred my image using red oxide and started to stick the tapes down. I wore gloves as I am notoriously messy and my previous stones had a surplus of finger marks! However glove wearing and cutting and placing micro masking tapes was a bit of a challenge !

24 /6 /15 - carried on sticking tapes down and used rubbing block to mimic concrete -Noir a monter diluted slightly with brush for extra black areas - to carry on next week

                                                    
                                                     Park Hill Flats stone with tapes stuck down, 
                                             dark areas NAM diluted with turps, rubbing block to left





1/7/15 - Continued working on drawing - deep blacks created by using NAM thinned with turps, tonal areas created using rubbing block and Charbonnel inks.

2/7/15

Carried on working on stone trying to protect drawing using newsprint as much as possible so as not to transfer material. Used turpsy wash splattered on a toothbrush to achieve the top left corner, black areas were made using diluted NAM with brush.
I left areas that needed straight lines adding until next time to do before second etch. Covered drawing with chalk then did first etch painting on Atzol using large brush - excess dabbed off gently with a sponge so as not to disturb the drawing and then with dry cloth. Dark areas, like the splattered area and also in the eaves were treated with med strength acid - (bubbles after 5-6 seconds). The really black areas were NOT treated with acid. Areas that needed protection from the acid were brushed with gum Arabic first - The acid was then dabbed off and  the stone dried .

                       
                                     Park Hill Flats drawing on stone after first etching


Next week prior to the second etching I will work into the drawing a bit more .