13/ 14 th Jan 2016 - Proofing and registering new stone and fine polishing technique using Water of Ayr stone

Registered new stone using 2 small graining stones to provide external reference points for the paper (as wanted to print proofs on paper bigger than the stone). The stones were then all strapped together to keep their positions relative to each other constant.

                                             Stone registered and ready for proofing

13 proofs were taken using newsprint, kitchen paper and Fabriano Rosepina watercolour paper and non - drying (noir a monter ink). The delicate watery tusches in the foreground printed up quite well but I had over pumiced some of the detail under the eaves on the image and was regretting my heavy handedness somewhat ! I discussed with Serena the various options in developing this image further - namely by adding colour by means of another stone/ photolithoplate/ monoprint or hand tinting with watercolour wash or by adding further tone using another stone or a photolithoplate and then adding watercolour washes. Serena showed me a copy of a wonderful book by John James Audubon  'Birds of America' - which contains 435 reproduced editions of his hand-coloured engravings which were incredible and suggested that it would be interesting to work on another stone to add more tone to the image and then hand tint the combined result.

I thus went on the hunt for a stone large enough to satisfy my requirements! Unfortunately the only one available was a one that had been kindly donated but unfortunately had n't seen the light of day for some time and was going to require some extensive graining!

            Several hours later .... once the stone was grained, Serena showed us a technique of achieving a very fine polish to the surface of the stone using a Water of Ayr stone. (A hard cylindrical whetstone often used by jewellers and watchmakers - but very difficult to purchase nowadays) She recomended using this between the medium and fine graining sequences when a detailed drawing using fine nibs was planned.


                                          Water of Ayr stone and in use below

                                 Serena demonstrating use of Water of Ayr stone

After polishing  the stone was washed, dried and then etched twice with a 1:3 diluted solution of 1:9 concentration acetic acid.

21st /22nd /28th January - Drawing on prepared stone 

I wanted to use the newly prepared stone above to add extra tone to the last stone that I had been working on. The image was traced from the first stone onto red oxide paper and transferred on to the newly prepared stone. Areas that I wanted to keep the same from the first stone were masked out on the second stone with gum arabic. I worked with turpsy tusche for the dense black areas and Korns no 4 crayon on a dabber for the lighter tones. The stone was dried, chalked and etched selectively, the dark areas treated with Atzol, mid tones treated with a 50% solution of Atzol and the light very delicate areas treated with home made Gum Arabic solution. The stone was left to rest. Here's the stone before I added the dark areas (this bit saved until last as it is the most messy!

After leaving the stone for a week the drawing still looked really pale where I had used the crayons so Serena suggested rolling it with NAM (non drying ink) slowly and carefully to try and get more of the delicate areas of drawing to take. This we did and the image looked much better on the stone. It was then left for another week to soak in .....

5th, 6th 7th January 2016 - ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS AND PROOFING

Good to be back in the studio after the Christmas break!

Printed several proofs from my small Park Hill III stone using NAM ink and a small glazed roller, experimented with different papers including some samples of velin cube BFK Rives 280gsm paper in grey, tan and cream - i particularly liked the grey and tan papers which gave a nice background hue. Then I discovered some similar Somerset Velvet 300gsm paper in a similar grey colour that LPW stocked so took a few prints from that.


Here is the stone 

Heres the print on BFK Rives grey paper

I will experiment with some of these prints at a later date adding colour in the form of monoprints or chine colle.


Returned to my large stone that I had been working on before christmas. The stone was regummed and the drawing washed out. The stone was rolled up with a thin layer of NAM but it was necessary to work on the watery tusche areas quite a bit with the nap roller in order to bring them up.
French chalk was added and then areas of the stone selectively etched. The watery areas in the foreground being quite fragile didnt need any more etching so were just treated with fresh gum arabic solution.
The very dark areas (that were too dark) were treated with Atzol solution (30% nitric acid : 70% Gum Arabic), the rest of the stone was treated with a solution of Atzol diluted by 50%.
The stone was left to rest overnight.

I wanted to add some fine detailed black lines by scratching into the stone with a fine etching needle and then rubbing ink into the grooves. This was done in the following way:

1. Gum and dry stone
2. Fine lines scratched in with an etching needle - (any mistakes made carefully covered over with gum). I added detail in this way to the tiles on some of the walls, railings and areas of wire mesh.
3. NAM ink was mixed with a little turps to create a thick slurry and the ink painted into the grooves. Excess was blotted off with newsprint and the area heated to encorage the ink to penetrate the grooves.
4. French chalk was dusted on to the stone
5. Gum arabic (or water) was dabbed gently into the inked areas which picked up the surplus ink leaving the grooves impregnated with ink.
6. A couple of the lines were not well defined so they were re-scored and ink rubbed in as before.
7. Once the lines were satisfactory, French chalk was dusted on the stone and a thin layer of NAM ink rolled over the stone.
6. The stone was gummed and left to rest overnight 


Here is some of the detail that I added by scratching in

The next day I added some white lines by using the same method as above (except omitting to add ink into the grooves!)
I also felt that some of the areas of shading were a little dark (especially those created by the rubbing block) so I softened them by abrading them gently with pumice and scratching back some of the areas gently with a sharp scalpel blade. The edges of the stone were cleaned up using really strong acid.

Certain areas of the stone needed a further etches as the image had been drawn with lots of different materials and the different areas need different amounts of etching. The watery tusche areas didnt require further treatment so they were protected with the fresh gum arabic solution. The very dark areas on the left were a bit too dark so they were treated with a strongly acidic GA solution, the rest of the stone was covered with plain gum.

Here is the finished stone which I will register and proof next week: