I've had a very thrilling breakthrough, I've managed to produce several lithographic plates that are stable enough to produce multiple prints from. I have been experimenting with this technique repeatedly but struggled to get repeatable results from the plates due to the drawing materials not being stable enough on the plate, marks breaking down as more prints were pulled and problems with scumming.
I did lots of reading up on it and bought some citric acid crystals which take care of the scumming problem. This time when I made the plates I made sure of several things:
Cut the plate smaller than my largest brayer to avoid lines at the edge of the roller
Use thin washes of acrylic etching ground, mixed with a little water to thin it and black ink to colour it
Only use a no. 5, very hard, litho crayon (softer crayons don't work)
Heat set the materials, first I baked them in the oven for a few minutes to ensure they were fully dry, then I used a mid temperature iron (no steam) making sure it didn't get too hot as the plates melt at 200 degrees
To start with I made two plates designed to be printed in one colour:
I quite liked what was going on in, prtucularly in the left hand one which seemed more painterly and freer, but I didn't think it would make sense to anyone else. Would they be able to read the log piles on each side of the print, and the tyre tracks on the path. This is meant to be exploring the harvesting side of the managed forest, and while I know what it's about I wasn't sure anyone else would. My initial idea had centred around the print being monochrome to communicate the starkness of the harvested landscape. While the idea may still be relevant it doesn't come easily to me not to work in layers of colour - the details are getting lost, as are some of the marks.
I was referring to some sketches made in the forest as well as a charcoal drawing and a previous attempt at a lithograph for inspiration.
I decided to be brave and go for a multi-plate image in four colours, or rather in the same base colour mix but tweaked slightly in each layers to make it lighter and darker.
I made the four plates and started testing it. This is layer 1 and 2. I decided that the first plate needed the marks strengthening as they were too light. This was the litho crayon and it makes wonderful marks but it was going to get lost here. I made stronger marks on the plate but on further testing realised that some were interfering with the second plate too much so I stopped and made a new plate paying close attention to the tree line in the second plate.
I was much more pleased with the new plate after the same two layers:
After three layers it looked like this:
The marks are really pleasing to me, the mixture of the painted acrylic wash and the litho crayon contrast really well. I particularly liked the interplay of the colours, textures and shapes of the circles representing the log pile. I was worried that the final plate might detract from these marks.
I really like the flatness of the marks, the texture is completely reliant on the shape of the mark which is fascinating. I really enjoy Rachel Gracey's work which I think shows in this.
I got the final layer on.
I'm really pleased with it. I think for a first attempt doing this it's gone really well. Making the new first plate was definitely the right decision. I like the interplay of the colours although I think that it could have had a greater contrast between the two darker colours.
Next time I try this I'm going to pay far closer attention to where the marks lie on each plate so that there is less overlapping as some areas of the print look too busy. I think this is a technique where an economy of mark making could work really well, really using the white of the paper and great marks to make interesting prints. I'd also like to try using paper that is smaller than the plate to avoid the plate marks around the edge. It seems impossible not to get ink at the edge of the plate, but even where there is very little ink the slightly different places that each of the four plates sat can be seen when looking closely and I think it would look better without. It doesn't have enough depth to give the brilliant embossing that an etching or collagraph gives, it just looks a little messy. The registration would be tricky as the paper is soaked and so changes in size, I think I'd have to mark the plate somehow or have a piece of card or a measure to help me register each print. I'm sure I could think of something.
The one advantage of using plates smaller than the paper is that registration is very easy as you can print upside down, putting the plate on top of the paper with this technique.
I'd like to try painting some hard ground onto a leaf and pressing it onto the plate to transfer it, or using a leaf as a stencil and painting around it with the acrylic wash. I think some really interesting effects could be created.
I'm really encouraged that my persistence with this is paying off as I really like the effects this technique is creating.
I was determined to try it as I wanted to produce something new for GROTTO and was nervous about using a very thin paper which ruled out linocut (I also didn't have time for one of my multi-layer reduction prints). I didn't have any etching plates big enough for an A3 print so I was thinking I'd have to do a collagraph but didn't have anything in mind so this was my other option and an image that I've been trying to make. I'm simply thrilled it's worked!