A Loving Embrace

Let’s talk a little bit more about process. These next few proofs/prints show part of the process of an intaglio print. Again, these are etchings and used hard-ground and aquatint to make the image. I wound up printing them on colored paper. I think you can see through the progression of images here how I came to the final result. I do like to draw on my proofs; it makes me feel less precious about the work and helps me to get ideas of how I want my final image to look.

silkworm spinning a cocoon

One of the many things I love about printmaking is the ability to make one image look an infinite numbers of ways. This is an etching on a found plate with hard ground and aquatint. These three prints were done using viscosity printing techniques. The first color was carded on and wiped with the tarleton rag like a regular intaglio plate. The second color, instead of being on a second plate, is rolled on with a hard roller and ink that is more viscous than the ink used for the first color.

This print is the same plate but instead of using the viscosity method, I used chine-collé to make the second color. Chine-collé is when an image is printed on a piece of paper that is glued to another piece of paper. So here the image is printed on a colored piece of paper which is glued to a piece of white Rives BFK with wheat paste.