Michael: Solarplate etching again

For my next solarplate etching, I've enlarged my drawings before processing them onto the plate. (In the previous etching, the drawings were slightly reduced.)

The original drawings were about 6 x 4 inches. On the plate, they are about 8 x 5.5 inches (A5). I etched them onto a single A4 plate, and then printed it.



Then I cut the plate, and printed them separately.



Room 511, Ambos Mundos Hotel, Havana. The room where Hemingway wrote “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. Solarplate etching, approx A5.



Havana backstreets. Solarplate etching, approx A5.

Again, it's exciting to see how well the solarplate picks up every mark and nuance of the drawn line and watercolour washes, particularly at this larger size.

You can see the original drawings here and here.

Michael: Solarplate etching - Paseo del Prado, Havana

Because I had nothing better to do last week, I went on a course at the Ink Spot Press in Brighton to learn solarplate (photopolymer) etching.

Unlike tradition etching, photopolymer etching uses no acid, no wax, and no sticky smelly stopout varnish; produces no fumes and no dust; and doesn't turn your hands yellow. In short, it's safe.

The plate is etched by projecting ultraviolet light through a transparency of your design onto a polymer-coated aluminium plate. The light hardens the exposed polymer; you wash the plate in water, removing the soft parts, and revealing the etched lines. You then print the plate in exactly the same way as a traditionally etched plate.

Photopolymer etching seems to be promoted primarily as a means of creating etchings from photos, so my first plate was based on one of my photos.



House on the Paseo del Prado, Havana.
Solarplate etching on paper, approx A4.

I chose this photo because I wanted to see how much detail the etching method would pickup. Compare it with the original photo:



Almost every detail!

Then I printed the plate in different colours.







This last one shows one of the problems with solarplate etching: if you cut the plate to size by using a Stanley knife, the polymer coating can split from the plate at the corner, leaving a gap into which ink creeps, and then spills out when you print.

More pictures later.