An etching is created with a plate of metal, usually copper or zinc. A resist is applied to the plate, front and back. A sharp tool called an etching needle is used to draw an image on the plate. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath; the acid reacts chemically with the metal and “bites” or etches it wherever it has been exposed (wherever the needle has cut through the resist.) In this way a printing plate is made. These steps may be repeated many times, along with other techniques (scraping, aquatinting, engraving) before the plate is complete and ready for edition printing.
The resist is removed, and ink is applied to the entire plate. The ink is wiped off the surface of the plate; the etched lines hold ink. Dampened paper is then laid on the inked plate and the plate is run through the press, under great pressure. When the print is pulled from the plate, it is a mirror image: a ridge of ink on the paper corresponds with each etched groove of the plate. The print is dried flat. It can be watercolored, or left in the tones of the ink used.
The etchings are numbered in an edition. Laura generally prints an edition of 30; the first one is numbered 1/30, the second is 2/30 and so on. Proofs (prints pulled as the work is in progress) are signed as Artist Proofs or APs. Variations (different colorings or inkings) in the edition can be signed as EV or Edition Variée.
Laura uses 100% acid free cotton rag paper. The watercolors she uses are of top quality. Her framing materials are also archival (acid-free). Watercolors should always be kept out of direct sunlight.
Monotypes, Chincollé Monotypes and Etching Collages
Laura makes her monotypes by painting directly on a metal plate with etching inks. Dampened paper is laid on the plate, the press blankets are laid on top, and the plate is cranked through the press. The image is transferred onto the paper; each piece is unique, or a monotype.
To make a chincolle’ monotype, Laura cuts or tears papers and uses them as collage elements in a composition, which can also include embossed shapes and ink. The press is used to glue flat the collage elements, emboss the shapes, and transfer the ink. There may be several layers of work done on the one of a kind finished piece.
In creating her etching collages, she first makes and prints plates that are solely patterns. She then can ink and print these in the traditional way, or use a more fluid consistency of ink. It fills the etched lines and lays on the surface of the plate as well, allowing a different, richly textured print to be pulled from the plate.
When the etching dries, it can be used in a number of ways. In some of her pieces, she uses the etching as the background, and adds collage elements to it. She uses only acid-free papers and pastes in this process. Some of the other papers she uses are etchings or painted papers she has made. Some pieces have embossed areas as well. The pressure of the press embosses the shapes she makes into the rag paper she prints on.
Laura prints almost exclusively on 100% cotton rag paper. Occasionally she prints on other acid-free papers. Her matting and framing materials are always archival as well. The acid-free materials protect the pieces as much as they possibly can be protected.
