Found a new stone to work on ! Previously I found that resensitising the stone initially (especially if I was using masking tapes) gave better results.
To do this:
Wash stone with water
Take a mix of 1:9 acetic acid : water solution and dilute this further with 1:3 parts water
Flush solution over wet stone (should fizz!)
Repeat twice
Rinse off - care being taken not to touch stone
Dry stone
This technique is primarily used for stones which have already been drawn on and that you want to add new work to. It works better with a fresher stone and you often need to use greasier crayons to work with subsequently (eg if you have used a no 4 crayon you will need to use a No. 2) or a turpsy tusche rather than a watery one.
3/12/15 - Worked on new stone- found a good way to create straight lines was to use litho ink and a fine pen nib (as long as there was minimal ink loaded on the nib!). Some marks (to represent distressed tiling created by drawing soft litho crayon on to flocked wall paper and pressing directly on stone. Tried a watery tusche in the foreground - tried drawing over this with a No. 4 litho crayon (Serena said this might come out really dark though) - also gently scratched a little of the watery tusche back.Really dense blacks created by NAM diluted minimally with turps (too much liquid and it had a tendancy to bleed).
10-12 - 15 - worked on new stone - more dark black (diluted NAM ink) added at the top of image
More detail placed on tiles in foreground -using a nib and litho ink shading on dark areas of wall to create shadow with a litho crayon.
Serena mentioned that it would be good to se a watery etch used on the watery washes in the foreground- She also suggested that instead of using our usual gum arabic solution we made our own as it is less acidic as it doesnt contain the preservatives that shop bought solutions do. We will do this and the water etching next week.
Heres where I am up to with the stone at the moment
16-12-2015 - MAKING FRESH GUM ARABIC SOLUTION
Finished drawing on stone (although I intend to add to it by scratching in fine black lines after the second etch) and left to rest for the remainder of day. Gently poured a fresh solution of Gum arabic over the drawing and lightly brushed over the solution to cover the stone thinly. Excess was removed with gentle dabbing and the surface buffed and dried.
The fresh gum arabic solution was made as follows:
1. Pour approx 300ml water into a wide necked jar
2. Add a few drops of Jeyes solution (phenol (aka -carbolic acid)- has antisceptic properties and preserves the solution)
3. Place a fist full of gum arabic crystals inside an old pop sock and suspend the sock from a wooden barbecue skewer which is placed over the rim of the jar suspending the Gum Arabic crystals in the weak phenol solution.Leave 24 hours
(This photo wasnt taken when we made the solution but after we'd used half of it! - so the crystals should be suspended in the water - but you get the idea!)
17-12-2015 - ETCH FOR WATERY TUSCHES
As the watery tusches are very delicate and fragile they would be damaged with our usual gum arabic ethches so a very weak acid solution was made to etch these areas.
Water Etch - (98 % water :2% nitric acid solution) -Used for delicate watery washes and mixed drawings
1. Wet stone with water
2. Flush over weak acid solution for maximum of 30 seconds -(stone should sparkle slightly)
3. Wash with water
4. Dry stone with hair dryer (dont over do)
5. Gently cover with plain (fresh if possible) gum arabic - taking care as drawing really fragile.
6. Dry with hair dryer
7. Leave to rest
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