I ordered a selection of zinc plates, some with a shiny finish and some with a satin finish and handily ready-backed. I wanted to try to crack the soft resist problems I'd been having last time so coated them in soft resist. It took ages to get anywhere near dry and I ended up popping the plates in a warm oven to try to speed things up after several hours had made no difference. This seemed to work. I used a home-made dip nib to make some interesting marks although the soft resist was rather dry and behaving more like hard resist.
I mixed the etching solution and popped them in.
I'm always amazed by how instantly the reaction starts! The marks made by the dip nib look wonderful - very excited at this point!
In only a few minutes the etch was well underway. I ended up leaving it for about 30 minutes to see what a really deep etch would look like, and how it would print. I slooshed the liquid about a little to remove the furry brown stuff that builds up as the plate etches. Apparently this should be done to nudge it away and allow fresh mordant to get onto the plate to continue the etch.
These are the two plates I etched. Both seem to have had failings with the ground sticking to the plate, especially the one on the right. I wonder whether I sanded the plates with sandpaper that was too fine. I took them down to 1000 grit paper, but think I should have stopped at 600 so there was enough tooth for the ground to attach properly. I also think I put the ground on too thickly, this would explain why it wouldn't dry. I need to do 2 very thin layers not one thick one.
I was impressed with the depth of the etch on the left hand plate.
Here are the plates with their prints.
I was rather pleased with this one. The accidental etching around the plates actually gives a very sweet effect (this plate is tiny - only about 8x5cm). The lines made by the dip nib are very interesting, some of the areas seem too large and are not holding the ink as well as they could. I think some experiments with blankets and pressure as well as different inking techniques and scrims would be interesting, I'd like to get some deeper darkness on some areas of the trees.
This was a total failure! The plate was beautiful before it was inked but the ground has lifted and everything has merged into one. I have sanded it back, polished it, degreased it and coated it in hard ground so I wonder whether it will be possible to build on the hints of tree shapes that are there and bring those out.
I am also going to try to print over these failed prints, it will be interesting to see whether the caligo safe wash ink will stay put when re-soaked. In theory I think it should as it cleans up with a soapy mix so I believe water alone should not move it.