Drypoint Etching on a Copper Plate

Many of us may have an interest or passion we return to throughout our lives. For me, one of these is printmaking. My first experience with printmaking occurred right after high school at the Glassell School of Art in Houston. During the printmaking class we lived the learning exploring a range of the intaglio printmaking methods; drypoint etching, chemical etching, and aquatint. Later during the sessions on lithography, we were assigned a block of Belgian stone and tasked with cleaning off the old image, creating one of our own and running it through a printing press.

One of my best memories is the day my mother joined me in the lab to run an edition of prints.  Afterwards, we split a burger at Roznovsky’s Hamburgers (one of Texas’ legendary burger places), laughing at the printing ink under our fingernails and on our t-shirts. My mother was always up for an art adventure, but that’s another story!

My methods of printmaking center on drypoint etching, in which the drawing is made with a sharp metal instrument on a surface and mezzotint in which the surface is first scribed multiple times and then, an image is burnished into the rough surface. Neither method requires the use of hazardous acids and other chemicals to etch the plate.

In the first photo you can see some of the tools used to make marks on the plate. These tools actually cut into the surface of the copper and leave a burr or rough edge which will capture the ink when the plate is inked for printing. Copper is my favorite type of metal plate (zinc and steel can also be used). We use thin sheets of roofing copper cut to size on a place cutter.  

In the second photo you can see the lighted magnifying lamp above the plate. This enables me to move in very close to see the image…so close I can smell the copper. The process is  intense and I find myself often holding my breath while drawing.

When the drawing is complete we choose the ink. For the moth, Renaissance Black will bring the detail into sharp focus. The copper plate is warmed on a hot plate while the ink is mixed.

We have the glass top table from my childhood home and it makes an excellent inking table; slick and easy to clean. Using a metal spatula the ink is mixed with a bit of clear gel and applied to a rubber spreading tool much like a spatula without the handle.

As you can see, this is a messy process. We recycle damaged books from discard sales using the pages to keep the back of the plate clean and later, to begin removing the ink from the table These particular pages are from a paperback copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Reading the words describing the subjects of the letters written by Lydia to her family after she marries reminds me how much more detail you find in the book over the film.

Even though you ink the entire plate, you will use a Tarleton (starched, open weave cotton) cloth gathered into a softball shape to gently press the ink into the image and then to delicately wipe the rest of the plate clean. Periodically open your Tarleton cloth to a clean place and reform the ball shape.  It’s also helpful to keep the back of the plate clean and to wipe the edges with a Q-Tip before printing.

The press bed has a registration grid on it, but I prefer to create registration lines in red on a piece of newsprint to show me where to put the copper plate and where to place the top and bottom edges of the printing paper. You can see the ghosts of plates of the past have permanently marked the plastic press bed cover.

Dampened printing paper is then placed on top of the copper plate using the registration marks as a guide.

Two sheets of newsprint are placed on top to keep the dampened paper from moistening the three press blankets of various thicknesses from getting wet when it goes under the roller and pressure is applied to force the ink from the image on the plate onto the paper.

One at a time the blankets are gently placed over the paper and copper plate. The ends of the blankets are under the heavy metal roller on the press.

The metal wheel on this American French press is like the wheel on a ship. It’s important to keep moving steadily as you pull on the wheel to turn it so the press bed does not pause under the roller and create an inconsistent print.

We had the press made several years ago. When we moved to the Texas Hill Country, we had a difficult time getting the press uncrated and moved upstairs.

The bed of the press rolls under the roller and to the other side. When it stops you lift the blankets one at a time, remove the newsprint to be dried and reused, and carefully lift the print paper to reveal your print!

Here is the printed image! You will notice the pressed edge of the copper plate on the page as well; this is all part of the beauty of the process. The moth is printed at the bottom of a large sheet of paper as it will be at the bottom of a botanical watercolor painting, I am planning.

As the paper is still damp and the inked image is wet, we put the printed paper on top of brown paper in a drying rack. The circulating air will slowly dry the piece.

You may remember the beginning of the post where I wrote about returning over and over again to something for which you have a passion? When my husband and I married we had one of my first copper plates and several prints from it hanging on the wall over the couch in the living room of our first apartment. Later, my husband took printmaking as he worked on a photopolymer photogravure process. He invited me to draw some plates he could use to develop his printing skills. A few years later we took a night class together and our fascination with the processes involved grew to the extent we decided to order our own press. Now, we are here and finally able to devote some uninterrupted time to this challenging and endlessly fascinating process of printmaking. 

You might think about something you have enjoyed doing in the past. There are countless possibilities and much to intrigue us!