Etching class - fantastic teacher showed me great drawing method

Term 3 started.  It's been a while since i tried doing a few classes per week.  Worried it may be too much.  But, today anyway, the sun shone and my arthritis reacted well to all the painkillers.   Its been a very good day, the most upbeat I've felt in months.

 It was a 2-1/2 hour etching class.  I was a bit nervous as from previous classes, i know it can be complicated and one needs to be careful because there a mild etching acids etc.  On arrival I wondered why i was there, it seemed too much hard work,  but teacher was good and eased me in.  He showed me a method I had used but it seemed better this time, probably because he explained it really well - it was a WOW moment.

Its a perfect method for drawing.  His explanation wowed me because i finally got it - you draw into the wax you put on the zinc plate.  The wax reacts to how much pressure you apply with your pencil.   He got me to draw a light, medium, and heavy line.  The acid will start eating into the metal straight away say 30 mins, on the heavy line because you have pushed most into the wax and left little there.  The medium line will take longer so after 30 mins it will be more lightly eaten into by the acid, and the lighter line even less.  So, you can draw freely and get every nuance of line.   He showed me a great method of drawing onto the wax by using masking tape to lay butchers paper above the plate, draw onto the paper so you see you drawing properly.  This was absolutely fantastic.  Hadn't learnt this step before.

I had gone over previous notes and works yesterday, but when he said what did i want to do, i had no ideas.  Fortunately i had a drawing in my notes that i love by Honoré Daumier which i copied.  After i drew it, and was waiting for acid to eat into plate, i had time to compare drawings, seeing the mastery of his lines.  I practiced a few more drawings.  The teacher set up another plate for me to take home and do another drawing.

The drawing by Honoré Daumier showing wonderful use of line to show personality and garment movement.

My hurried copy drawn onto butchers paper placed over the zince plate coated in soft wax by placing the plate on hotplate, rubbing block of wax on the warmed plate, rolling it evenly, letting it cool to a smooth thin layer of wax which you can draw into.

The reverse of the drawing shows where the lines i drew have picked up the wax from the plate in exactly the thickness or thinness  i have drawn.

The zinc plate after it has been in the acid bath for 1/2 hour.  Next week i will ink and print.  That's when the hard work starts - right amount of ink, scriming, polishing, putting thru press, see print then go back to plate, remove any marks u don't want with varnish stopper, add other marks you may want, put back into acid bath - and so on till  you get what u want - its dirty, hard work.  I will have to take my time and it will challenge my patience, perserverence and desire to want to get things just right - like the million rewrites you do to a first draft.

Second plate to take home to make another drawing.  It has a hard ground - wax that is harder, applied in same way.  I will see what it is like to draw into.



While waiting for the acid to work, i had time to retry the drawing which shows I need to practice a drawing first before i try it on the next plate.  I may do a portrait of a friend.