Deconstructing Process

My process has been becoming really formulaic, and I was looking for a way to breathe new life into some of my work. First I wanted to approach the work non-objectively so that I didn't get caught up so much in the imagery, and I could just focus on the process of making the print. The next part of my process I wanted to change up was the order of events of the process I use. Instead of starting with a deep etch, I started with the last process I use: a spit bite utilizing stencils.

This is the stage one print, showing the effect of the spit bite technique.

The 1:1 ratio for the spit bite ended up being a little too strong, it gave me a good start for a non-objective piece, but lacked the value range I was trying to accomplish. So, I side tracked for a moment and tried another spit bite with a 3:1 water to nitric solution. This is closer to what I was looking for, but I still need to work on getting to a solid black in the value range.

3:1 Spit Bite

 Next I wanted to etch the piece utilizing the shapes brought out by the spit bite; I used a sharpie and built up an image with 30 sec  to a minute etching times. I would dry the piece and immediately make more marks and put the plate back in the acid bath.

Stage 2

Last I wanted to add some heavy blacks, and more texture to the plate. I wanted to print this piece as a viscosity print from the beginning and I needed more definite depth changes in the plate. I picked out some shapes to be more negative, and began deep etching the piece.

Finished Print Monochromatic with a cool black

Finished print, viscosity print