Next Step in the Printmaking Process.

Grounding the Plate.

The polished copper plate has been cleaned with vinegar-salt water to remove tarnish and degreased with a paste of whiting (chalk powder) and ammonia water. The degreasing process assures that the hard ground adheres well to the smooth copper plate.

The clean plate is warmed on a hotplate and the hard ground, which is a waxy, tar-like substance, is applied with a small brush. The warm ground flows out into a thin, even coating over the plate. The plate is placed back on the hotplate to evaporate the solvents and begin the drying. After the plate has smoked a few minutes, it is removed to a cool surface to harden. After the plate has cooled and the ground hardened, the plate is ready to be worked.

Next: Scribing the image into the hard ground coating.

My attitude about printmaking is not necessarily about printmaking.

It's about making the best kind of image I can...

It's about talking as clearly as I can.

Stephen M. Perry

It's a New Week!

It's a new week.

The snow is melting and spring is back!

Putting the frustration of getting another rejection notice from an art fair application aside, I am preparing a copper plate for a new etching for the upcoming shows that I do have booked.

We ventured up north of Manhattan a few weeks ago, on the east side of Tuttle Creek, following the Carnahan Creek Road, into some of the best of the Flint Hills terrain. The area deserves another day of exploring, which we will do within the next month, but a few of the photos I have will make great subjects for the next etching.

Follow along and I will take you through the preparation of the plate, the etching process and then printing an edition of prints on my studio etching press.

The copper plate has been beveled on the edges, to prevent the edge of the plate from cutting through the paper during the press run, and polished ready for degreasing and application of the hard ground coating.

The snows of March have come and gone.

Weather in Kansas has a way of invigorating and enlivening the mundane.

It's the changes and the challenges that keep us fresh!

Stephen M. Perry

Mother Nature and the fickle Kansas weather conspired to shut down my coming out party last Friday by blowing up a real March blizzard. Springpark Gallery in Clifton Square had generously given me a wall to display a selection my etchings for the Final Friday event. My first showing! Almost! Until we get the next event scheduled, here's a preview.

"Waiting for Spring"

An Original Etching

The snows and the winds have paid their visit.

The loft lies empty from its winter feed.

Somewhere out there is the new bud, the Bluestem sprout of Spring

that comes and brings with it new hope for a better year…

Sometimes it's only optimism that gets you from one year to the next.

Stephen M. Perry