Silk Aquatint Portrait
This post features another silk aquatint , with colored pencil, based on a quick cell phone snapshot of my trusty studio assistant, Scout.
He’s all about being helpful, especially if you need things like fur in the paint, shoe laces untied while carving details on a block, or paint brushes scattered to the floor.
He’s house-renowned as an expert in his field of Bothersome-but-Cute. Do you have a studio assistant?
How Do You Make a Silk Aquatint?
If you’re unfamiliar with silk aquatint, visit this post to read an explanation of the process and the concept.
After you read about how a silk aquatint is made, come back here, and let’s look at this version of a silk aquatint, made from a sheet of mat board and synthetic silk.
This was an experiment in plate-making; I wanted to see if the plate substrate could be made from mat board (also called press board or gray board, depending on the continent you live on). For flexibility, I wanted to understand if the plate material would work best when made from mat board, masonite or plexiglass.
You can see in the post I referred to above that I made quite a few test plates on different surfaces, with different forms of silk. I’ll go into more details on that in a video later, to help demystify this beautiful process.
No Press, No Problem
Silk Aquatint is a beautiful option for detailed, and subtly shaded printmaking. It does require a press, but don’t let that stop you.
For the first decade or two after my introduction to printmaking, I continued to make blocks and plates, and then begged and borrowed time on other people’s presses everywhere I went.
Search your town for printmakers, printing labs, print workshops, junior colleges and Universities with print programs till you find resources. Access to print labs will also acquaint you with various presses.
Your hands-on experiences will inform your decision later, if you plan to buy a press of your own.
And if you enjoy working small, research the movement of altering embossing machines and pasta makers to print intaglio style printmaking (drypoint, silk aquatint, collagraph) at home.
Keep Your Experimenter’s Hat On
Like Most printmaking, silk aquatint takes a couple of tweaks and a spattering of tries before you get the hang of it, so don’t be deterred. It’s loads of fun, and the plates are sturdy and beautiful.
If you run into issues, leave the details in the comments below, and we can all chip in as a community to answer the questions. We get much better at this stuff when we work on it together. Don’t you think?
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next post!
Belinda
Art Quote
There is no such thing as talent. What they call talent is nothing but the capacity for doing continuous work in the right way.
Winslow Homer
I receive your emails and enjoyed reading up on silk aquatint today. Your information was so helpful. I can’t wait to experiment in the future!!! Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi Mary, Thanks for taking the time to let me know you’re enjoying my ramblings! I hope you have so much fun making silk aquatints!
I have a studio dog, Border Terrier Tessa, 4 years old and very impatient. 18 lbs of mischief. I enjoy your posts and thank you for sharing your techniques. Great blog.
Hi Jan, 18 pounds of mischief gave me pause! Now THAT would be a studio-interruption! But I bet your Tessa is cute enough to make each visitor to your studio empty their pockets of all treats for her! Thanks so much for your visit, and compliments! Happy creating!
Hi Sue, My studio cat Scout sends a hello to your studio cat Pipkin. Paw-High-Five. I’m glad Susan is teaching silk aquatint – it’s a beautiful and painterly printmaking method more people should know about. I do have the Library Cat print – it’s an edition of 10. I’ll have to add one to my Etsy Shop. Thanks for your interest. 🙂