Printing the Jacket

After the pop up show I took a step back from the jacket. Some space over Christmas was a good idea. On returning to etching in January I had a very productive conversation with Brian.

We discussed at some length the value of taking a soft ground imprint of the jacket and printing direct.

Part of me feels this project is in the past, but to revisit and pay one final homage to the ghost without any adgenda other than image making captured my attention. I decided to explore the process.

The problems were many. The size of the jacket, the size rod all the baths, aquatint cupboards, and the cost of plate material were the main considerations. Many of these would be resolved if I allowed myself to produce several plates to create the one image. But I wanted to see if there was a way to get this in one.

Plate cost? Right…. So I’ll use steel. That will be a saving.

Create a bath specific to the plate size and for this as a one off…. Look at using Copper sulphate saline Soloution to etch. This would be a safe alternative when the bath size is restrictive. I’m not happy about this but I will compromise the clean etch of nitric acid if my test shows it’s viable.

After looking at the two big presses in the studio we realised there were issues. The bulk of the jacket would not go through either press so it meant that I was going to have to use the Beever press in the relief area.

We gathered around with Pete to look at the mechanics and the pressure settings.

After three attempts we felt that the pressure (350) and the number of boards (2 out) as well as foam packing ( 2 sheets) gave a good impression.