Home Forums Explore Media Printmaking etching- using a Sharpie on copper

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  • #990229
    scottbaird
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        So I “discovered” (quite by accident) that when using the following combination:

        Sharpie brand marker (must be this type of marker, not just any black marker)
        Ferric Chloride for the etching mordant (acid)
        Copper plate
        Akua Water-based Lamp Black Intaglio ink (or any other Akua color)

        …the sharpie acts as a resist to BOTH the acid and the ink.

        Just draw directly on a copper plate with sharpie ink, let it dry, and put the plate in acid like you normally would. What’s interesting is that the sharpie acts like a ground and protects whatever is beneath it from etching, so you don’t have to put a ground on the plate first. Just draw whatever you want to print white.

        Then, when you take your plate out of the acid, let it dry and print immediately. Do NOT try to take the sharpie ink off with alcohol or acetone, leave it on the plate. The sharpie resists the water-based intaglio ink as well, so when you wipe your plate, the lines that you drew will print very white.

        This white is hard to get with regular etchings, because the wiping procedure gives it the same tone as the plate, unless you spend a lot of time selectively wiping.

        For the below example, this was my procedure:

        1. Draw the image (tree, stars, shooting stars, etc.
        2. Spray lightly with spraypaint to aquatint.
        3. Etch in FeCl for 20 mins.
        4. Wipe and Print.

        and this was the result:

        I thought it would be pretty interesting to share. It’s a 6×6 plate.

        Has anyone else tried this and have tips or suggestions?

        Scott.


        Socio-political Printmaker in Calgary, Canada
        www.scottbbaird.com
        Twitter: @Scottbbaird

        #1173501
        PaulsArt
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            Nice looking print Scott. Thanks for sharing your process! :)

            #1173500
            inugie
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                I’ve used a sharpie as a stop out for fine details but found that you cant cover larger areas this way. Great idea to leave it on for wiping though!

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