The Impressed Image
Gallery Featured Print
Steve's attempts at Printmaking
No, you are not getting to know who I am, where I live or what I do. You can guess all that from the unsubtle hints
dropped here and there and my handsome family snaps. I fell into print collecting after several other acquisitional
manias faltered through lack of material and rising prices. I spotted a few prints at antique fairs whilst hunting
for watches and thought they were great value. It's a small field where a bit of specialised knowledge means you can
still pick up real bargains - and make dreadful mistakes if you are not careful. This is my kind of art - quality that
far exceeds the asking price and of great diversity and affordability. I have some fine things and a lot of 'ballast'
so that when I rifle through my boxes there is enough that I've forgotten to to keep me pleasantly surprised.
I don't believe in criticising or passing judgement on the products of others without having a go to see just how
difficult it is. Try repairing a few complicated watches and you will soon come to respect the makers of
even most run of the mill timepieces. So it is with etching.
After a session of evening classes at my local print workshop
with the ever patient Sarah Kirby I launched myself into a stuttering career as an etcher. Having almost no intrinsic
artistic talent and precious little time and even less patience it has been a sobering experience. I bought a small
press to use at home and found I could not produce proofs anything like that at the workshop. I was following
Lumsdens 'Art of Etching', using copper and Dutch Mordant for finely etched work and a small press. They were using
zinc, coarsely etched with nitric acid, paper like corrugated cardboard, ink like road tar, and a press that could
have easily produced sheet metal from bars. I spent months getting nowhere. Etchings printed thinly and getting
a decent drypoint ruined the plate instantly. Increasing pressure and more blankets was useless. The press builder
politely suggested I look at the bits of the procedure before printing in an effort to prevent me ruining his
carefully and lovingly engineered piece of machinery.........
Eventually I completely ignored what I had been taught and followed the words of the old master, Lumsden, and Robin
Tanner (who also used Lumsden to teach himself). I made my own ink, used thinner paper, less blankets on the press
and the advice in David Strangs 1930 book on Printing. Everything now works fine and the results are consistent and
predictable.
Heres a couple of examples. Who cares if they're rubbish. I now know the trials and despairs of the printmaker, and these
trifles taught me more about printmaking than any amount of books, lectures and lessons.
Of course the one I'm working on at the moment is the masterpiece, but even then I don't
think I'll be giving up my day job quite yet..........
My copy of Irinas Drypoint Snail
The only one of 7 copies that looked OK.
Endless struggles with useless ink
Lordy me.....another one, this time enlivened by a piece of lettuce.
More trouble with ink far too stiff for drypoint
I then graduated to caterpillars (etching, detail)
This printed Ok by even I can see that it's awful......you don't really want to see the rest of it...
My excuse is that it was a tiny etching and therefore technically difficult, hampering my artistic flare....
First trial proof of my toadstool extravaganza. Homemade ink, thinner paper, less blankets.
5 minutes to ink up, wipe and print. Easy when you know how...........
There are some other embarrassing things I may post when I am not sober.........
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