6/52 Bird a week - With love

Here is another birdie piece that I managed to do while in San Miguel. It was a printing class and for this piece,  it involved etching in metal - a plate of zinc - and then using the etching to create the print. I entitled it "With love".

The drawing part was the challenging bit for me, as usual.  But just to add to that, it had to be drawn onto this sticky goo - a secret recipe of the teacher's - which was layered on the zinc.

Then the zinc was put in acid which etched into the metal where the drawing was - but the metal under the "goo" was protected. Here is the plate I made.

To make the print, the paper was moistened first as the lines in the plate were shallow, ink was applied to the plate and then mostly wiped off, and then it was put through the printing press.

Here is Gerardo - our teacher with his printing press!

And another new technique learned!

The "bird a week" is a challenge that myself and some other artists are doing this year - with the goal to create a different bird each week.  To see the birds others have done, please click on the links below: