The Shop > Metal Stuff
Etching and lithographing
awemawson:
Well we started with large (chip) potatoes which worked remarkably well cut in half, then went on to lino (linoleum) which the youngsters here have probably never heard of - you used to be able to get special kits of cutters to carve your design :lol:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleum
vtsteam:
--- Quote from: Joe d on January 07, 2016, 12:02:42 PM ---
--- Quote from: vtsteam on January 07, 2016, 11:22:50 AM ---I won't be using "real" stone litho plates, however. Not too easy to come by here.
--- End quote ---
Steve..... Isn`t half of Washington DC made with Vermont marble..... :lol:
Cheers, pot-stirring Joe
--- End quote ---
Could be, Joe, but I think they used limestone for the litho plates, and though closely related, marble is the metamorphic form of limestone. I think I remember back in the rock collection days as a kid, you'd test for limestone with vinegar to see if it bubbled up -- marble wouldn't do that. So my guess is that there is probably a similar difference if trying to etch it with a weak acid and lay down gum arabic. Who knows? What I do have lots of on my land is shale. But of course, none of it smooth enough to use as a plate. Lots of slate nearby, though not on my land -- and that is the similar metamorphic form of shale.
vtsteam:
--- Quote from: tom osselton on January 07, 2016, 01:54:00 PM ---Back in grade 8 art class we used floor tiles that we would carve patterns into that were then inked the paper was just rolled over by hand.
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Still very popular today in the form of, yes, linoleum block. That's linoleum glued to about a 1" thick birch ply block. I just happened to see some linoleum printing yesterday down at the school studio. And it wasn't even mounted on a block. Just the tile-like piece with burlap backing. So it's still going on today.
Linoleum gets it's name from linseed oil, btw, which it is made from. Oleum means oil.
vtsteam:
--- Quote from: awemawson on January 07, 2016, 02:36:15 PM ---Well we started with large (chip) potatoes which worked remarkably well cut in half, then went on to lino (linoleum) which the youngsters here have probably never heard of - you used to be able to get special kits of cutters to carve your design :lol:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleum
--- End quote ---
I once tried the potato printing thing when I was younger Andrew, and it worked great, as I remember it. Not a very big print, but certainly an affordable and easy to carve printing block. You could erase and start over with another slice! Like when you found out your initials printed backwards. :scratch:
Did you guys ever carve soap into sculptures? Ivory actually used to run contests for carved soap.
awemawson:
No Steve, back here in the old country we use soap for washing :lol:
We used to make potatoe prints on old bed sheets as I remember, but it is a while ago :ddb:
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