I had a little time today for another print. Sticking to the basics, I made another feather print.
I decided to give the dry-point on cardboard another go. If you look closely you can make out parts where the printing is darker and where it is lighter. (For example the shaft of the feather is lighter.) I achieved this by painting with an acrylic varnish. The print above turned out best, I think. There was still some black ink left in the lines which makes them even more pronounced.
A problem with this varnish is that is stays sticky for a long time. I made my first trial with it already about a month ago. I started out with pasting a printout of a photo of mine to cardboard:
I then used the varnish on the very white spaces, and scratched a lot into the paper on the board. Then printed as usual:
Argh! Or rather: double and triple Argh! The varnish had stuck to the paper, which didn’t take the ink well, probably a combination of too few wetting and too few pressure.Well, a clear failure that I didn’t bother to post last time because it seemed uninteresting to me.
But now I am delighted that it worked well for this feather print. I could imagine trying this again on a larger scale with a different motiv: square format, roughly devided into areas where the cardboard is blank, where it is painted with acrylics and has been given some structure, and areas where it is sealed with varnish. Then do a line etching into this prepared surface. Just have to find the time to try it. And I am also still looking for a sealant that would allow me to print completely, or nearly completely white. While I am writing this, I have the idea that one could maybe add adhesive foil. Shouldn’t be so hard. I wish I could have another go right now. Well, another time.