WORKSHOP: ETCHING WITH LOYALIST
For the past three years we have been given the opportunity to have the students of the Loyalist College Art and Design Foundations Program come to our studio to learn acrylic resist etching. As with prior years the workshop this February was a great success. There were over 30 people working in the studio but by having organized the space with inking station, drypoint stations, printing stations and drying stations each student had a chance to experiment and print a number of times.
With past workshops Kyle and I would prep all of the plates for the students, which meant cutting the copper, file the edges, degrease the copper and apply the hard ground resist. But since Kyle and I are teaching in the program this year we had the chance to show the class how to prep plates and coat them with the hard ground. Although this is not the most interesting part of the process it was great for us to share this step ( it is pretty crucial step to the etching process). There is always the fear with acrylic resist etching that degrease process was not done properly, potentially causing the hard ground not to adhere to the copper. Luckily each student did a great job applying their ground and not one plate was lost in the etching process.
The students had one week to draw their image onto their plates, after which they were brought to the studio where Kyle and I etched them and prepped them for printing. The workshop only ran for three hours and within that time 90 prints were made by the class.
*Above print done by Colleene Rowley
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