New Grounds Etching class

Krrrl is taking the etching class in Albuquerque by Regina Held, at New Grounds Print Workshop (July 19 - 22).  Regina Held also runs the Matrix Gallery, in the front, where our exhibition runs through July (and now extended through August).

Regina Held lectures

about the intaglio etching process

New Grounds Print Workshop is the first completely non-toxic fine print workshop in the world. Moreover, they have written the manual of non-toxic printmaking -- following the non-toxic printmaking method pioneered by Keith Howard (inventor) and Mark Zaffron (commercializer).

Non-toxic printmaking manual

The Key

The non-toxic "ground" is made from

blue tinted Pledge floor wax  --

while a solution of soda ash (10% by volume to water)

takes the ground off 

after the plate is etched

Etched in Ferric Chloride

in vertical tank

(plates are hung 

on long piece of tape,

dipped face to acid,

and taped onto side of tank,

before closing lid)

After ground is taking off, 

the copper plate needs to be sponged off  twice to:

1)  deoxidize -- with vinegar and salt

and

2)  degrease -- Bon Ami 

They print with Akua intaglo ink

(we used carbon black),

after soaking the paper

Kim and John,

the other students in the workshop,

doing the grueling task of filing 

the edges of their copper etching plates

Pile of prints!

On Hahnemuhle Copperplate paper

from Takach Press

For detailed description of the class, and the non-toxic process of etching, see Krrrl's blog:

1) Basic line etching and aquatint

 2)  Soft Ground; soft ground variation -- crayon manner; spitbite; lift ground;  crisco lift; selective wiping; chine colle; curating