This zinc etching had numerous problems as it developed.

I started with a couple of photographs taken at Lakes Entrance in Victoria last year.

I cropped one to fit my print matrix.

The boats were drawn along with a few lines to indicate waves. I applied hard ground to the plate and the drawing was transferred to the surface. Using an etching needle I drew the line work through the ground before etching the plate in nitric acid solution (10 parts water, 1 part nitric acid) for 1 minute.

The ground was removed and aquatint applied to the entire surface. Using a bitumen solution I stopped out whichever sections I wanted to remain the lightest tones and placed the plate back into acid solution for 7 seconds. This step was repeated several times, each time stopping out more of the plate, thereby creating gradually darker and darker tones in the remaining exposed areas.

Lastly, the bitumen was removed, the plate thoroughly cleaned, and ink was applied to the surface and a print pulled.

There were issues with both over- and under-wiping, different inks (Gamblin, Fine Art Inks, Charbonnel tube and tin – all etching inks) and different papers (Hahnemuhle proofing, Hahnemuhle 300gsm, BFK Rives 250gsm and Velin d’Arches 250gsm).

This is the best of about 12 prints, not ideal by any means.

It’s been quite a long journey with this one and I’m rather disappointed in all the work, time and materials I’ve put into it for such an iffy result. I think that for once I have to accept the etching itself isn’t great and I need to move on to something new. I learned a lot along the way, both about etching and myself, so those are positives that have come out of it. Time to move my focus elsewhere.