Technique

 

The technique I use is very traditional drypoint printing, using a copper plate and an intaglio printing press. The process is actually quite involved and longwinded really. 

 

First off i need to choose an image which I wish to use. This has involved driving around the countryside with my kids and then slamming on the brakes when I see an interesting looking telegraph pole! Then in order to remember the image I will either take a photograph or sketch the subject. Then the image needs to be reversed (as it is reversed again in the printing process). Once this has been done and I am happy with the composition, I will start etching the image.

 

The next step involves a great deal of effort and an awful lot of hard work. So taking a scribe (a sharpened piece of steel), I then scratch the image into a piece of copper. This can take a long time depending upon the complexity of the image I am working on. This scratching process creates a burr which will later catch the ink in the printing process.

 

After the etching stage is complete, I am ready to print the first image. This is done by rubbing ink into the plate carefully with a toothbrush. Then wiping off the excess with some very starchy cloth called scrim. Once the plate is ready, with ink only where it is meant to be (as pictured), we are ready to print.

 

The paper is then soaked in water for up to an hour. then it is carefully blotted dry, and placed on top of the plate on a printing press. The steel cylinder of the press is rolled over both paper and plate at pressure, taking the ink onto the dampened paper in the process.