Fairytale Shell

 

Here is my first etching ever! Fairytale Shell is hard ground etching, printed with black color. I made the picture directly on the copper plate using needle-pen. (I don't do sketches.) Everything started with a copper plate, covered with so called hard ground. With a thin needle-pen there started to appear curves of shell on the plate.

Scratched copper plate is an artwork itself!

Then printmaker Marko Lampisuo covered the backside with varnish, to make sure, it won't get damaged in the acid. Then we discussed about how dark color I want; the longer the plate is in the acid, the deeper it burns the scratches on the plate -> darker color when printing. We decided to go with one hour. So, then the plate had one hour swim in acid tank. Then Marko washed and dried the plate and it was ready to be used in printing.

Then Marko put the black color on the plate and cleaned it untill there was only little bit color to be seen in the scratches. Then he moistened thick printing paper with a wet towel, put the plate on the printing machine and moist paper on top of the plate. Printing machine made the rest of the magic and so my first etching was ready! I just love my Fairytale Shell.