Drypoint etching

The first of this year's workshops with Cumbria Wildlife Trust - and what a pleasant day with some cracking work produced! 

We began by doing small etchings of butterflies to give everyone the chance to do a trial etching for reference, whereby they could practise using the different tools and learn how to ink up and print the plate. After that it was free choice! 

I did test two different inks - previously I have stuck to the Aqua ink, but it's a bot of a pain to clean, so I had bought some Calagio Safewash which like the Aqua is oil based, as it has to be to print onto damp paper, but it is washable. How oil based and washable combine I have no idea but it was, as it says, water proof and washable in soap and water. The Calagio, I think, gave a crisper print - but the Aqua is easier to rub into the plate and gives a more 'etching-like' effect ....swings and roundabouts comes to mind! 

The initial trial prints - well worth doing to give everyone a feel for how hard to scratch in, how to use sandpaper and how much ink to put on ..it also gave participants an idea of what size piece(s) were achievable in the given time.