Boy Statue and Head (etching in drypoint)

We left our prints from last week at the studio to let them dry. So here is the one from last week: an etching, Boy Statue and Head, done in drypoint on the x-ray plate.

Drypoint is a lot of fun because it is so direct. You just get down there and scratch away. Though it's hard to get those nice fine lines!

During the printing process, I love playing with the ink on the surface of the plate. The random effects in combination with the printed image are especially interesting to me. A lot of these messy bits are called surface tone, and its a variable of the process that I really enjoy experimenting with.

The first was done with black ink. The second was done with brown and black ink.