AlternativePhotography.com: Photo Intaglio and Photo gravure

VII. Pull a Proof

Ink, wipe, and print the etched copperplate in accordance with the printing instructions below.

See whether the proof has good highlight and shadow detail, plate tone, depth, and whether it looks like your visualization of the image. If so,

Cut the plate to the size of the image, with or without a border as desired.

File and bevel the edges of the copperplate, so that they will not hold ink.

Here is the etched copperplate from which the Hokokuji print was made.

Image left: Etched plate, Hokokuji

VIII. Print the Edition

The day before you plan to print, prepare a stack of the etching paper you will use, alternating wet with dry sheets, wrap them in plastic, and place a flat weight on top. Use distilled or buffered water.

The etching paper or washi should be damp and soft, but should not have any water visible on its surface.

Adjust the pressure of the etching press so that it makes an even impression.

Polish etched copperplate, and, using rubber gloves, de-grease plate with sodium hydroxide solution, and brighten it with acetic acid / salt solution. Dry plate quickly to avoid tarnishing.

Mix black or sepia etching ink either from dry pigment together with cold-pressed linseed oil, or from prepared inks, kneading it repeatedly with a stiff ink knife until it has the desired tack or consistency. The ink should fall slowly off the knife, rather than flowing (Figure 6).

Spread ink on clean copperplate with brayer, covering the whole plate evenly.

Image above right: Etching ink ready to be applied to copperplate

Etching papers (Figure 7) differ in how they take the ink, how absorbent they are, in tone, and in surface texture. Contrary to what one might think, the inked copperplate actually prints quite faithfully onto a rough-textured paper, giving a pleasing contrast between the image area and the texture of the margin.

Magnani, Lana, Fabriano, Somerset.

Ganpi White, Torinoko, Ganpi Cream, Ganpi.

Tosa Hanga, Mitsumata, Kyokushi.

Peter Miller runs workshops and also sells his prints. You can see his work on his website Kamprint.com

Copper Plate Photogravure.
Demystifying the Process.

Text by David Morrish and Marlene MacCallum

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Buy from Amazon.com

Printmaking in the Sun

by Dan Welden, Pauline Muir, Melvyn Petterson, Dan Weldon

Highly recommended

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The Complete Printmaker:
The Art and Technique of the Relief Print, the Intaglio Print, the Collagraph, the Lithograph, the Screen Print, the Dimension's Prints, Collecting Prints, Print Workshop by John Ross, Claire Romano & Tim Ross.