Hey everyone! This past week we did something cool in Printmaking class, we etched a metal plate with acid so we could print off of it! It was such a unique process and before this week, I had no idea you could even create a print that way! It was fun an surprisingly easy to do, unlike the solar plate prints I wrote about a few weeks ago. I thought it was going to be like that, and got worried. I did not enjoy that process at all, and as I said in that previous post, it took a few (a ton actually) failed prints to get it right. This time that was NOT the case and I got it right the first time! I wasn’t expecting that, however, so my first print is my artist proof because it was printed crooked.

The process for the acid etching was simple. A metal plate was covered in an acid resistant coating and left to dry. Once dry, I carefully etched in a design to the coating, exposing the shiny metal underneath. This step reminded me of those rainbow etching papers I use to use as a kid. Once that was done (making sure the only metal that was showing was my design) it was soaked in acid for about an hour. Once that was done, I washed off the coating with turpentine and rubbing alcohol until all that was left was the shiny metal. Then it was ready to print! I love how all of these prints turned out and I definitely want to try this again!

Since this print contained nudity, I felt it was best to censor it!