Etching at the Firestation Print Studio

I started learning etching at the Firestation Print Studio two weeks ago. It's an old fire station that's been remade into a printmaking studio with artists' studios on top. Walking in and seeing all the printing presses and materials and pictures does send a tingle up the spine. Etching is something I always wanted to do, ever since I bought a book of Rembrandt etchings a long long time ago. I had so much fun, but still in the learning curve loop and just looking to improve and get comfortable with the techniques - there's a lot of stuff to learn!

Here's my first plate, on copper. Also my very first print! Very exciting. Its a boy playing the flute in the dark woods. I made two prints from this. I was initially worried that too much of the image would be lost in the darks, I wanted to keep all those densely hatched lines in the picture.

With the second print, I wanted to increase the black from the last print. So, I purposely rubbed more ink into certain sections to increase the shadow areas, especially the lower right.