High on the success of my first etching attempt I decided to re-coat the plate in soft ground and see what further marks I could get. Too many it turned out!
I'm not entirely sure what went wrong but I managed to etch the whole plate:
After some thought and reflection realised that I hadn't degreased the plate, this would mean that the ground wouldn't stick to the plate properly, therefore letting the mordant etch it all. I also thought that I needed to wait until the soft ground was rather dryer as I seemed to pull a lot of it off when I overlaid the paper to drawn on.
I decided to sand the plate right back and start again. I sanded it so there was the merest hint of the original etch and thoroughly degreased the plate with soy sauce. Then I backed it in hard ground and once that was dry put soft ground on the front. I gave it 10 minutes to dry this time (the advice sheet says to work into it within the first 15 minutes). Again, the paper seemed to pull more off than was ideal. I also felt it wasn't behaving exactly as I wanted, it just seemed a little too tacky. I left it to thoroughly dry and then etched it again.
It still didn't quite behave, this is the plate:
The silvery areas are where the paper didn't remove the ground too much, there were meant to be much larger areas of silver. I'm interested to see what the marks will print as so I will ink this up and print it. Interestingly I got the same strange pattern on the back again:
The first time I did this I had the odd slight brush mark but none of this strange dotting. Something has gone wrong with the ground here but I can't imagine what, and it didn't look dotty when it was dry. I have asked online for any advice and although I've been given some tips I haven't yet got to the bottom of this particular problem yet.
I inked up the plate and printed it so I could see exactly what I have got and was really surprised and impressed by the print.
It reminds me of looking through a really wet window with water pouring down it. I really like the variety of marks I've created; I'm also pleased with the contrast between the very dark and very light that I've managed when inking and polishing the plate.
I don't think this plate will be able to take any further experiments but the lessons I'll take forward are to let the soft ground dry for much longer before overlaying any paper to draw on and to remember to properly prepare the plate every time it is etched. I will also need to use much finer sandpaper to better polish the plate without leaving visible marks.
I feel very positive about my etching experiments, it's a technique that concerned me due to the chemicals involved. I was thrilled to discover there are alternatives to the traditional chemicals. I've been very careful with the disposal of the copper sulphate - I only mixed up a small amount and ensured it was completely clear before being disposed of into the water system. I'm also storing the powder already mixed with salt which prevents the dust problem as the salt becomes slightly moist, trapping dust particles; apparently breathing in copper sulphate particles isn't a good idea! While this type of 'non-toxic' etching is certainly less toxic than traditional etching it still involves the use of chemicals which are dangerous to health and so must be handled carefully. I'm being careful to label all the containers and store them out of my children's reach.
I am currently awaiting the arrival of some new plates. I have several ideas about what sort of image I would like to try to create. I particularly like the rather ghostly tree shapes I've managed on this plate and wonder whether I could recreate this, I will need to use the small off cut I have ordered to experiment with different mark making tools and the double etch. I'd like to see whether I can create something similar to my layered Swinley Forest linocuts but in etching, I think the results will be more dramatic and I like the idea of a lot of information being held in one layer and one inking, in contrast to my many layered reduction linocuts. There is something about the idea of working repeatedly on the plate to create the image before it gets to paper that is appealing to me, rather than my usual step-by-step layering and to-and-fro between plate and paper.