Posted by Dave Bull at 2:33 AM, November 15, 2011 [Permalink]
And you thought it would never happen ... Printing on Mystique #17 is finally under way!
First impression looks simple, but was actually a bit 'touchy':
It's a plain 'beta' impression - mostly for the purpose of killing the overly rough surface of the paper, but partly also for adding a base tone to the sheet. I sometimes do this flattening job with a small etching press I have here, but this time I couldn't do it that way - I didn't want to lose the fluffyness of the surrounding border, and I also didn't want to alter the paper in the (here unseen) other section of the sheet ... the place where print #18 will be printed later.
I said it was 'touchy' because for this print I am going to have to be very careful not to induce any paper distortion at any stage. We will see why a bit later ... Printing a wide beta like this - with very firm pressure to get it smooth and even - sometimes causes the paper to stretch and twist a bit if you are a bit rough with the baren pressure ...
Once the paper has settled and relaxed after that 'exercise', I put the border outlines on:
Coming up next, the most difficult impression - and the one that will 'make or break' each sheet ...
