I thought I'd replicate the gum arabic transfer butterfly plates (so I could keep the originals to compare to) and then work into them to see how I could push them. It took three goes in three different copper sulphate solutions before they would bite and when they did take the finish was nothing like as good as before.
Next time in
the studio I thought I’d try again. Different image but still gum arabic
transfer. It bit straight away. I was so overwhelmed I left it in the solution
for far too long. It prints mainly black with just a little detail managing to
show through in parts. I think I can use it to practice scraping and burnishing
on, a sort of mezzotint.
Finally on
Friday I decided to try traditional hard ground resist and stop out. It needs working on but I'm finally getting somewhere.
I’ve now got
several plates to work into and I’m still determined to nail gum arabic
transfer as a resist
I’ve also
spent large periods of time over the last two or three weeks glued to a
computer. I now have a website up and running.
