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| Kinship 7×5 drypoint engraving with watercolor Available in my Etsy Shop |
I’ve got a quick, fun experiment from the studio today, and I video taped the process & outcome so I could share the details with you in case it was a bust. 🙂
Several years ago, I read about an un-named artist making drypoint engravings (incised directly into the plate without the use of acid) on matte finish drafting film, which is a thin, flexible polyester sheet used like paper for drawing with colored pencil, pens, marker and an assortment of other media.
The portrait above – Kinship – is my first test, and I printed an edition of five from a sheet of Dura-Lar drafting film, incised with a cork-handled scribe, and then inked, wiped and pressed to paper. It worked!
I’ve got more experiments with this material under way, so have a look at the video below & you can give it a try! Stay tuned for more! Happy printing!
What I’m listening to: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, a novel by Helen Simonson, Narrated by Peter Altschuler
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| Printed as an experiment from a sheet of drafting film |
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| A small edition of five drypoints |
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| After the ink dried, I added some watercolor washes to the first print |
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| Drypoint with watercolor |
The video tutorial for this little experiment is posted on my youtube channel. If you read this blog via email or rss, and don’t see the video window below, you can watch it directly on youtube here.
Art Quote
One evening, Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) was dining with me and some friends. Among the latter was a young lady recently married, who related to us an account of the furnishing of her house. All the rooms were finished except the dining room; for this last, her husband could not, for the moment, give her the money, and she was compelled to hold her little receptions in her sleeping room. After dinner, Rosa asked me for a large sheet of drawing paper, and while we were talking and she herself smoking a cigarette, she sketched a delightful hunting scene, which she signed with her full name. Then, under cover of a general conversation on music, as tea was being served, she approached the young wife and said to her: “Take this picture to (Benjamin) Todesco, on your return to Paris, and he will give you at least fifteen hundred francs for it. Then, you will be able to furnish your drawing room.”
~French Landscape painter, Joseph Verdier writing about his friend, the painter Rosa Bonheur
How many prints you normally get from a drafting film plate?
Hi Bridget, I run small editions, so I’ve never pulled more than 5-7. You could just keep inking and printing until you see changes in the fidelity of your line work, and then sign and number to get an idea of the drafting film plate lifespan. Good luck!
Thanks for this video-class, it’s very ilustrative and didáctical way to explain the básic process to do a drypoint In any material, and the way to inking …..i take this experience to show to my pupils how to do much with less, because it’s not easy to find the traditionals materials like cooper, or zinc plates to do printing in my country. Words appart to your printing press….in the school, have a very old Charles Brand intaglio press, that do anything you can imagine……
Thanks for your vídeos ONE moré time
A very elegant and lovely artwork.
Brilliant idea in using the mylar. I don’t do a lot of prints but have tried drypoint etchings and love those, so this looks like a wonderful idea to try.
As always your videos are clear and informative. Thank you.
Love the Rosa Bonheur story, and you fabulous print too!