Copper and Chemicals Equal Beauty

Or at least for other people. 

In this post I am going to give you a LITTLE rundown of what goes into Printmaking.

To define printmaking: It is creating an image using a wax (or other material) coating over a metal/glass plate, cutting into the coating with a etching needle, dipping (etching) the plate in acid (ferric chloride) then inking it and running it through a press to create an image. 

 First is the 4 basic techniques to printmaking:

#1 Dry Point
This involves no ground (coating) or acid hence the name DRY point.
You use a etching pen to cut directly into the copper (we use roofing copper)

 

As you might be able to see (if enlarged) the edges are jagged (due to the grain) and it is hard to get smooth, crisp clear lines. 

#2 Soft ground

We put something like a dry brown glue coating on the plate using a roller and a hot plate to melt the coating evenly across the plate.

The reason it is called soft ground is because it does not harden, but rather is soft enough for you to make imprints of things on it. It is not good for drawing unless you are SUPER careful not to leave fingerprints on it. It is very sensitive.

#3 Hard ground
In this we use a floor wax coating which does remain hard.
It is good for stenciling things and getting very hard clear straight lines, or gentle curves. 

 

#4 Aquatint

Which is a misleading name because it is actually golden rosin dust. 

We mix up the dust by blowing air into the box and then put our plates in to let them get coated.

After coating we take it to the hot plate where the rosin melts into TINY beads across the plate.

With a mix of stop outs you can get different tones and values on your plate.

 

All the processes above were only done once per plate. For our main projects we have to do 3 of those processes.

For my first one I did a hardground to draw outlines of my image,

aquatint (as seen below) and then dry point.

 

Dry point gives you fuzzy jagged lines

Soft ground gives you very thin but semi soft lines

Hard ground five you think crisp clear lines

Aquatint give you values

 

What you see below is my aquatint with red rosin stop-out.

To explain what a stop-out is I should give you an idea of the process.

 

1) Choose image

2) Cut copper plate down to the size you want ie. 4x6 or 5x7 etc

3) Degrease plate with soap & 600 grade sandpaper (grounds will not stick to oily spots)

4) Put coating (ground) on plate, the time for this can vary from 10-20 minutes to do

5) Let dry (hard ground) , cool (soft ground) or melt (aquatint)

6) Make imprint or draw on ground (for soft & hard only)

7) Etch, this consists of putting tape on the back of your plate and dipping it in Ferric Chloride for anywhere between 30 seconds to 40 minutes

8)Take out, rinse

9) Use alcohol, acetone or a variety of other chemicals to remove ground from plate

10) Put on next ground (normally aquatint) (skipping the melting process)

11) Figure out values, etch 30 seconds

12)Take out, rinse off

13) Put red rosin (or other stop-out) on plate

This is a coating that you paint on with a paintbrush to keep the ferric chloride from etching that area of the image

14) let dry for 15 minutes

15) tape back

16) etch

(repeat steps 12-16 another 4-5 times, adding time each time until desired darkness)

Below is what it looks like with an aquatint and red rosin towards the end of the process.

Then there is the printing process
1) Let paper soak 10mins-1 hour (depending on brand)
2) Ink plate with scrap matte board (very stiff cardboard like material)
3) Scrape off excess ink with more matte board
4) Use tarlatin (cheese cloth) to wipe ink evenly across plate without leaving weird marks
5) Clean edges
6) Line up copper plate & paper carefully on a sheet of acetate on the press
7) blankets down, check pressure settings on the press
8) roll the paper through, open up, carefully pull paper off and you have an image!
9) Now repeat this 8+ times!

And you get this:

 

To give you an idea of ALL the little detail it take in doing red and white rosin, here is a series of images adding red rosin each time:

(white rosin is more like paint, the thicker it is, the less it etches, the thinner it is the more it etches. Giving nice smooth change from light to dark, more paint like feeling)

Rosin!

And more rosin

 

And more rosin!

 

 

This is what the plate looks like after you remove the ground and rosin, before printing:

And then the final image:

 

I know that I only showed you 6 of my images but honestly I only have 9 total.

(In the process of one right now)

That may not sound like much but considering the last 3 have 3+ processes, these images easily take....4-5 (3 hour) class periods plus coming in on my own time on Fridays to work on them.

It is a good class to have a book to read in because there is lots of waiting to dry and etch time.

Sorry if this was super boring and if you got lost.
I tried to dumb it down as best as I could.
Kudos to you if you read it all.
Anyway this is a pretty fun class, if you're in college and like art even a little bit, you should take it. It is a lot of fun and you learn TONS.

Hope you enjoyed it.
I know my images aren't all that great, but hey I'm a "baby" print maker (it is what the advanced classes call us).

Kudos is a strange word

Kudos Kudos Kudos 

BRAIN DEAD

Ever have those days that no matter how you try you feel you are in some thick fog and cannot escape? That is me today.

Somehow all my energy (though not much to begin with) was used up after cleaning, making lunch, doing laundry and homework. Given I was disturbed by an unpleasant pain this morning at 4am that lasted for nearly 3 hours, putting a damper on getting my beauty rest.

Oh is it not lovely to be a girl sometimes.....

Alas after fighting cramps for about half the day, along with chores and one class down, I seem to have no energy to think. This would not be so bad if I did not have a 3 hour class to endure. I will pray that despite my fog and my body depleting my energy rapidly that I shall survive.  And when it is all over I get to spend the evening with Garett.

Oh the simple and marvelous things that we cling to to get us through our worst days.

He truly is a blessing, more than I can say, but amazing nonetheless.

Off to endure  the next 180 minutes. Wish me luck!

I wish I had some caffeine.
Meg

LOST!!!!

Ever have those teachers that confuse the poop out of you? You don't know what I mean? I shall give you an example.

Example: Teacher that LOVES technology and everything they do is online or maybe it is just an online class. Teacher is says "Go post 3 times over the next week in your "groups". Sounds easy enough but then you remember to ask "Where??" You dig around and find maybe 4 possible locations of where this "group board" might exist. But after checking one after the other they all lead to dead ends.

Shortly after your digging around your teacher sends out another 2-3 reminders to GO and post in your groups, but continues to fail to mention WHERE. Also this assignment does not show up on your "assignment list" where you could normally click and it would show you where to go. So where is it???????? Why do some teachers think we are mind readers? Why do they fail to respond to emails? And why do teachers like technology so much?

Does anyone miss actually turning in hard copies of assignments? Does anyone miss the fact that their papers used to not "get lost in cyberspace"? Anyone? Oh just me then? Oh well. 

Oh how I miss the days when you had to learn cursive because that was what you would "always" being using to write your papers in the future. Life was simpler back then.

Let us enjoy that most classes are STILL in actual classrooms for now.

Sometimes technology makes
things more complicated
rather than less.
-The Confused Meg

A Year In Review

I know this is slightly late, but hey at least it is not February yet.

I decided to take a look back over 2011 to see what I have learned and experienced.

I spent my first off track semester in NC where I got to spend time with old friends.

Start a work out habit.

Enjoyed a RIDICULOUSLY warm winter.

Ate some new food, invested in warm clothes.

Stocked up on important things like magnets and mugs.

Did TONS of puzzles with my dear mother.

Jumped in puddles and watched Aaron get his braces off.

Also on my off track I got a new phone.

Tried having bangs for a little while.

Spent quality time with some adorable boys.

Ate WAY too many doughnuts.

Learned a little about Japanese characters.

Ate more food and discovered cupcake piggy banks. 

(Please say that 10 times fast!)

I finished off my off track after working as a smoothie make/cashier at the YMCA

and headed to Utah for a week.

During that time I had many discoveries.

I learned of AMAZING Mexican food (Cafe Rio) and amazing Thai food!

I discovered Cheerwine Popsicles, Just Dance for Wii and that playing in colored powder was truly as awesome as I dreamed it would be. 

There is nothing like sneezing purple for 3 days and watching Koolaid colored water cover the tub from washing your hair.

I learned I hate living alone for a week

and enjoyed General Conference with my siblings.

Spring semester was an unknown blessing.

I met one of my best friends Nikki and played dress up with her. 

I learned to sew.

My mother enjoyed sending me Easter stuff.

I moved to the 3rd floor of my complex.

We enjoyed Sunday Night Desserts and I had some awesome roommates.

I got addicted to cheese 

and saw the tallest stack of mountain dew cans I have EVER seen.

I learned that peeps are meant to be burned to death.

That blankets and water balloons make for great adventures.

NEVER do the cinnamon challenge

or the whipped cream game in doors. 

Supported my semi-apartment volleyball team

and met some awesome people.

Finishing up my spring semester:

I met some fairies,

cut my hair off,

wore a giant diaper,

was a model for a day,

ripped my favorite jeans,

met a cute puppy named Moose,

climbed a building,

painted myself,

conducted a surprise party

and took lots of walks.

While at home I played and enjoyed a little TOO much the summer rain 

and learned to spray paint

In the summer I said goodbye for now to my best friends in NC,

said goodbye to my hometown

and ate MORE Krispy Kream.

Back to school I played Glow-In-The-Dark Hide-N-Go-Seek.

Learned you CAN freeze eggs, 

saw the best fireworks show of my entire life

and spent quality time with my best friend Rachel.

On a side note, through out the year I started doing photo shoots for friends and clients.

I got to work with some amazing young men and women and for various reasons.

I have to say my work is improving constantly.

And to wrap up my year,

I learned to be gansta (Thanks Jaide!)

I began enjoying the privilege of having my family 3 1/2 hours away.

I got to watch my sister grow her first baby boy,

went to my first BMX contest,

had the BEST roommates of all time,

ate some treats, partied with friends

and began my personal scripture counter.

Not to mention I began learning to cook (and I actually like to!)

And of course met my best friend and boyfriend Garett Bonds.

All in all this has been a wonderful year.

A year of firsts and experiences I hope never to forget.

I know there was probably much more learning spiritually and mentally but I shall save that for another post on another day.

If you actually read this whole thing my hat is off to you.

Speaking of which I am craving old movies and pickles.

Hope you had a wonderful year and maybe now you will reflect back on the adventures you had.

My love goes out to all of you.

Thanks to many of you for sharing these adventures with me.

TTFN Ta Ta For Now

-Meg

Wonderings

You know sometimes I get caught up in my day-to-day routine. I get lost among the school work, work and social aspects of my life, and I forget to look back and see how far I've come. I've gone through a great deal in my young life. I've had times of great strength and others of great weakness. I came from a small town, being one of a few that shared my own beliefs at school. I grew up in a rather culturally diverse area, with the extremes of each season, where you knew a good 1/3-1/2 of your graduating class from when you started kindergarten.

I've been in college for over a year now. I'm surrounded by LDS young adults. I've been on my own for awhile now. I support myself a good bit. I maintain a part time job, while being a full time student, only to add a relationship that I didn't even think I would have time for. Not to mention trying not to completely forget about my friends and family and keeping up those relations.

I'm juggling more than I ever thought I could handle. I'm not saying I'm ungrateful for all of it, on the contrary, I am very grateful for all these opportunities. It is interesting to see how far I've come. My work allows me to handle criticism. My schooling teaches me about art, history, a combination of both, lots about the gospel that I never knew before, and much more.

My relationship is teaching me to trust and have faith. I am one that likes security and if there is one thing I am learning, relationships are never secure. It is a balancing act, a learning process, one that is exciting and terrifying all at once. But at least I am certain that I would not want to be on this adventure with anyone else. We're both learning and growing together and I know he will always be right by my side.

I guess the one point of all this is that I am not who I was 6 months, 1 year or 5 years ago. Though I have always been somewhat terrified of growing up, I am realizing I have been in the process of it for awhile now. It is scary, but I know with the Lord's help, all things are possible. Faith is easier said than done, and this is one of those times where I need faith more than ever.

I hope y'all can also learn to trust in Him. This time in your life may be easy, hard, scary, or exciting but I promise it will get better if you will put your trust in Him.

Meg

My thought process in a few minutes

I am hungry....But why am I hungry? I just ate dinner *looks at clock* oh I guess an hour ago. But Chase says my stomach is the size of my fist *makes fist* dang it....I have tiny hands. That doesn't sound right, otherwise I over eat WAAAY too much....that or food compacts into a third of the size that it starts out as. Speaking of fractions, I need to work on those recipes. Man I've been working or trying to work on those for...2 weeks now? Maybe less....and I'm only in the C's.....dang. Now I wanna make cookies! Oooo cookies! But they're more fun w/ friends. I'll make um tomorrow, but I also wanna hang w/ Kris and. get that camera from Anji.

Ah cameras! I haven't used mine in forever! OOO must take pictures this week, better remind myself *makes note on phone* Dang I have other stuff to do today too. Meh, I should stop blogging but I am so excited! Alisa finally added our roommates on facebook! Which makes me waaay too excited for college, ah college...stealing all my money but at least I have enough money for rent this fall, finally. What an accomplishment, I'm so proud of myself! =] Alright Megan, chill out that ego there. Ouch! Sunburn...yeah so if you go swimming and get sun burnt, just because it looks mostly gone the next day, doesn't mean you should go swimming again. Eh it's not that bad.

Agggh now I'm cold. Oh which reminds me, I finally learned my comfort zone is from 74 to 80 degrees =] Ah I like controlling temperatures. Uggh like when you go to a persons' house and it's negative 20 and you're shivering your butt off and they look at you like you're crazy because you are cold. Then you feel lame for feeling cold but you can't even go get a blanket because it's not your house and you can't feel your feet anyway! That's why I bring a jacket or 2 to church, and I am going to Idaho......I Am Brilliant......yeah that's it, brilliant.

Well now I am cold and will actually work on those recipes for college........................ooo I bet Catherine will make cookies with me when she gets here! Her and Jesse come Wednesday!!!! Yayayayayayay!!!


Home baked cookies are warm!
Nap outside?
Meg