Solar intaglio printmaking

Well, what a procedure solar intaglio printmaking is. It’s interesting that there’a natural connection with photography, though. It’s almost an extension of photography: print a black and white photograph on acetate, lay it over the photo-sensitive plate, expose it to UV light to engrave the dark areas into the plate, and then just print from the plate. I chose the simple approach of printing in sepia, rather than two colours or chine collé.

The first photo I used, from one of my film cameras.
First print. I left quite a bit of ink on the plate, so it is dark but I like the atmosphere and the swirls from the scrimping, where I was removing the ink. I just felt the window frames could stand out more, though.
A cleaner plate this time, and I removed ink from the window frame at the end with a cotton bud. I’m not sure which version I like best.

Then I traced a photo. I don’t feel comfortable doing this – tracing, I mean. I think either you draw freely or use a photograph. Tracing is a stilted compromise that has neither precision nor humanity. This was the image I used:

Another image from my film cameras.

Here is a print from it:

I don’t like this. It’s badly traced, apart from anything else. I was hoping the image would give me the chance to try different mark-making techniques but it didn’t. I think in future I’d either use a photograph or a proper drawing.

So that’s the end of my printmaking course. It’s a relief in a way because it frees up a day in my week. I can spend more time on writing. I’m still doing my letterpress course in December and maybe I’ll do another course before then, like a more advanced linocut course or another solar plate one.