Exploring new techniques to create plates I got my mini drill out and, using a fine tip, applied it to the surface of a piece of mountboard. The aim was to produce a range of organic imprecise lines as opposed to my normal Xacto knife line drawings.
The drill churned through the layers, tearing and pushing uneven ridges up from the surface.
EXACTLY what I was hoping for.
Using a paper mask I applied modelling paste to a section, incised some lines with a knife and added Akua Carborundum Gel to 2 of the corners.
The plate was varnished and a proof print taken. This allowed me to see what needed to be adjusted.
Plain mountboard, if lightly varnished – in my case only one layer – will always have a degree of tone, usually a mid-range something-and-nothing colour. And that’s what I got in the background.
The aim of my first proof was to check the balance of shapes, the direction and the intensity of the shapes. I was very happy with those and my narrow knife-drawn lines around the modelling paste were evident.
So it was time to work on the tone. I applied more varnish in selected areas. The mountboard sections surrounding the scribble had several thin layers added to take away a large portion of the plate tone, some parts had more layers than others. The scribble needed to be more dominant without being overloaded with ink as in this sample.
The paste area had achieved what I wanted with regard to shape. The whole thing was varnished again and then multiple more layers were added in parts across it. The aim was to incorporate a different colour here and wipe it back to get tonal variety.
The Akua gel gave me what I was looking for; a strong dark edging.
Once the adjustments had been done I reprinted.
Terrific result: great tonal variety, dominant focal interest provided by the scribble, excellent ink coverage. Very happy with this project outcome.
Now I’ve to print an edition of 12 for a swap. That takes longer than you might think because I rework the incised lines and parts of the scribble before each print ad they’re all supposed to be identical, but I’m already hankering after some colour experimentation!
TactualTextiles 
Looks great! I really like the contrast in the texture and between the drill lines and the knife lines.
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