Reverse Graffiti

I just discovered this new art form and I think it's pretty fabulous. It's reminiscent of reductive monotyping and it also draws attention to environmental concerns. The "graffiti" is created by cleaning dirty walls in strategic ways to create art reductively.

Though the police are seen harassing these artists in the video, I can't see anything illegal about cleaning a wall. Even so, it seems the powers-that-be saw fit to wash off the work before it even got an extended viewing. Luckily there was a videographer on hand to document the piece before it was washed away.

And here is a link to the Reverse Graffiti Project which shows another video using stencils and a powerwasher: http://www.reversegraffitiproject.com/. This time, the artist got obvious sponsorship. Again, the technique is pretty cool, though I find the prominent product advertising, unfortunate.

Non-Toxic Etching Update

I just received an e-mail from someone who read my non-toxic etching post from last year. I realized after rereading the post that the information there needs to be updated. It was written after just one test with a copper sulfate solution and I erroneously reported that the etching time for zinc in copper sulfate was the same as with nitric acid. This is definitely not the case. The copper sulfate solution etches zinc much, much faster and the bite is much harsher than etching with nitric acid.

I also have not had much luck aquatinting with copper sulfate since I work with subtle variations in tone. And since the bite is much harsher and quicker, it's very difficult to get subtle or delicate effects. Though if someone has had better results with this I'd love to know about it.

If you include thick, bold lines in your etchings, I would say that copper sulfate will give you that more quickly than nitric acid. But I need to do more experiments with copper sulfate before I can give advice about how to create delicate work. So far my attempts at this have been unsuccessful.

If you have had a lot of experience with copper sulfate and zinc, I would very much appreciate hearing from you about your experience.

Z-Acryl Polyester Litho Plates

Back in March of last year, I posted some info on Pronto plates and mentioned a demo by Mirka H. on printing from Z-Acryl plates which are similar to Pronto plates. Well, Mirka H. has a new post up with some great added info based on testing she's done on Z-Acryl plates as well as close-up images of some of the prints based on her tests.

So, if you're interested in this process, check out her new post on what she's discovered using different materials to mark up her plates and how effective her results were. Her blog is at http://www.mirka-h.blogspot.com/.

Non-Toxic Etching

For all of you printmakers out there, I've been doing some research on non-toxic (or much less toxic) etching techniques that I can do in my studio without needing to install an exhaust system.

I came across NontoxicPrint.com and they outlined a way to etch zinc plates (which I use) without nitric acid and the toxic fumes it emits. You can actually etch zinc, aluminum and steel in a mixture of copper sulfate, table salt and water.

So, I decided to do a test and etch a small zinc plate (6" x 3") with a 50/50 mix of copper sulfate and regular table salt (not iodized). See print above. The solution was a small amount -- 1L hot water mixed with 200ml of the powder mixture (100ml copper sulfate and 100ml salt).  I used an old plate that had hard ground on it from a long time ago and didn't bother to reground the plate before I drew into it (hence the messiness of the lines and the bitten edges from old ground flaking off). I had no idea how much time would be needed so I sectioned the plate off into 15-minute increments except for the first 10 min section.

What's interesting is that copper sediment forms at the etched areas much the same as bubbles form when the plate's in nitric acid. So you need to brush off the sediment in the same way as the bubbles. I didn't brush anything off during the etch because I wanted to see what would happen. I did, however wipe off the sediment each time I took the plate out to cover a section for the next etch. And in doing so, I inadvertently removed some of the old hard ground so there are some foul bitten areas around the marks in some areas.

For the next test I'm going to use the acrylic, waterbased ground (Z-Acryl) and see how that holds up to this process. It looks like this process etches in about the same time as nitric acid and there are no harmful fumes in the air during etching. So an exhaust system isn't necessary and (yay) I can etch in my studio fume-free.  The solution is considered a marine pollutant as it is toxic to water wildlife and needs to be disposed of properly (NOT down the drain), yet according to NontoxicPrint.com:

The left over copper residues from the etching process are a valuable resource. You may well be able to find a local recycling firm that actually pays for your etching residues - a substantial part of these is solid copper. Or, with the addition of sodium bisulfate to the etching residue you may actually be able to reclaim the solution a number of times.

So, there you have it. No more need to handle deadly nitric acid when there's a much safer way to etch. And NontoxicPrint.com has recipes for solutions to etch copper and brass as well (amongst other non-toxic printmaking techniques).

UPDATE: I've updated the links for nontoxicprint.com since one wasn't working at all and the others didn't direct to the relevant page.

NOTE: There is a comment below from an anonymous commenter who explains a chemical reaction between copper-sulfate and salt. Since I have no chemistry background, I cannot verify whether or not this information is accurate. However, please note that there is always a risk involved in using and mixing chemicals that you are not familiar with. Please use caution and get as much information before-hand when using all etching methods whether they are considered traditional or "non-toxic." I find that nontoxicprint.com, Zea Mays, and others are good resources to look into for comprehensive information on non-toxic etching as well as other "greener" printmaking materials and techniques.