Hard-ground

Sean, at Hot-bed press yesterday showing us how to apply hard-ground to our zinc plates in preparation for etching.  This was my first real experience of etching and I enjoyed it more than I expected.  The drawing with the etching needle through the hard-ground felt really satisfying.  I chose a relatively simple subject (a drawing of a gargoyle I'd done back in the summer) and I managed my three dips into the acid bath without too many problems.  I haven't printed yet and maybe the drawing will look too crude.  I think it will need the aquatint as well to make it come alive.

I left the studio a little earlier and enjoyed the afternoon sun, walking up Quay street and into the central square by the Town Hall.  I even had time to stop and buy dessert from the French Patisserie on Oxford Road.  I thought we should have something to celebrate Dad's birthday with.  We even drank one of his remaining half bottles of champagne - me as I was adding another print layer to the industrial buildings lino-cut.  The upside down application of the second layer was deliberate I hasten to add and not a result of too much champagne.  I'd done this by accident when I'd printed at hot-bed three weeks ago and looking at the subtle effects I was keen to explore what happened if I did it deliberately.  (It works when dark goes over paler colours but not when light goes over dark.)
By 8.15 I was ready to crash-out.  Maybe the effects of the champagne or possibly the early start!