Etching with the Sun

The last time I tried etching was during the Carter Administration, and technology has come a long way since then in the printmaking field. Today I tried solarplate etching for the first time, using one of my rainforest drawings. It wasn’t a total success but these things apparently take some trial and error. Here’s how it works: you have a metal plate with a polymer coating that’s sensitive to light. Place black lines over the polymer, using a transparent film with your artwork printed on it. Expose to the sun for, depending on how bright a day it is, a couple of minutes to many minutes. The polymer exposed to light hardens, and the polymer shielded from the light beneath the black lines stays soft and washes away with plain water and a soft brush. The washed-away lines are little furrows where the ink sits until it gets run through a press along with a piece of paper. Simple- you can try this at home, no need for acid baths or asphaltum grounds. Just the plate, the drawing and the sun.