Earlier this year I joined several others for some aluminium etching tuition by the amazing Papermakers of Victoria member Lyn Nicholls.

First let’s have a look at some of her work.

Left to right: My Place, Old Men

These two images were featured on the workshop promotion and were the initial reason I signed up. I’ve been told multiple times, from various sources, that aluminium etching is not as fine as other etching methods (zinc or copper plates for example), it’s hard to get precise outcomes and tonal variety can be difficult to achieve. I saw these works and immediately wanted to have a go. Personally I see nothing wrong with Lyn’s fine line work, her detailed imagery and the tonal range she has created. I think both she and her art pieces are terrific.

I started with a line drawing.

The aluminium plate was painted with a bitumen resist before transferring the image using white Saral paper. Using an etching needle and following the transferred lines I carefully scratched through the resist before placing the plate in a copper sulfate solution for the initial etching.

Step 1 and 2
Left: plate with resist, Saral transfer and drawn lines ready for the etching bath. Right: the plate in the copper sulfate solution.

It was fascinating watching the bubbles form around the drawn shapes as the solution started working. Once etched, the plate was rinsed, dried and the resist removed. The following steps involved blocking out sections and re-etching the remainder. The longer in the solution the more it etches and the darker the tone will be. So to get a variety of tones blocking out has to be done progressively and the plate placed in the solution several times.

Step 3 and 4
Left: block-out applied to area to remain un-etched, i.e. where there will be little or no ink. Right: further block-out applied after the first tone has been achieved in the bath.

This is done repeatedly until only the areas requiring the darkest tone remain to be etched.

Once complete, the plate is rinsed, block-out fully removed, cleaned and a trial print is pulled.

The image of my plate here shows quite clearly the tonal variation that can be achieved through multiple block-out and etching sessions in the solution.

With experience comes the knowledge to gauge the times in the etching solution, especially the first part when the lines are forming. I noted the plates were in the bath significantly longer for this part as the lines provide the framework for the tonal areas coming later.

My linework was very thinly drawn, in hindsight possibly too fine for the 15 minutes in the bath. They came through but weren’t as strong as I’d hoped.

There’s a huge difference in the two prints above. I massively over wiped the first print and lost the essence of it completely. The second one is much improved and shows the 3 different tones I was aiming for so, overall, not a bad result.

What have I discovered from this experimentation?

• I can clearly see that my tonally etched areas aren’t as smooth as Lyn’s appear to be in her work. Mine are rather grainy. Why? I’m not sure, but I suspect it’s a feature of this type of etching because the solution is in direct contact with the aluminium surface without the use of an aquatint which ‘evens out’ the etch effect. This is an open bite printing technique which can create an uneven surface in the metal, so the people who told me it’s not as fine an etch as other methods may well be correct.
• I need to get to grips with how much to wipe back so I can achieve blank, unprinted areas or as near to that as possible – as there’s usually a bit of plate tone regardless of which etching technique you use. Or maybe I need to adjust my designs so they’re not as finicky as this one. I had to spend quite a bit of time working into the lightest areas around the circuit components without affecting the ink in them. Very hard.
• The main thing I discovered is that I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. It was a completely new technique to me, something I can do at home and it’s not prohibitively expense so mistakes can be discarded without too much angst.

I currently have a new aluminium plate, with resist in place, and a design partly drawn. Is it less detailed than the one above? No, not really but I know I’m going to enjoy the results, whatever they might be.