Solar plate etching - gymea lilies

I made a solar plate etching from my drawing in the post below. This is my first print from it. It was inked up in sepia, except for the flowers which were inked up in red. Then it was rolled over with a large roller with a blend. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties (that's printmaking!) this time round I lost most of the red.

Looking forward to doing another one where the red shows up when I have access to a printing press again. I think this plate has potential in many colour combinations.

Solar plate etchings - palms

Another Printfest on Sunday and my first opportunity to print the solar plates I made from the drawings of palms in the Gardens last autumn. This plate was made from the drawing on the right of this spread, done in the Tropical Centre. It was such a simple drawing but the solar etching plate turned out really well. The top one was inked up in sanguine Charbonnel ink - wonderful colour. The other was inked up in an aubergine mix that had been created by Seraphina Martin who runs the Printfest. It is interesting to see them come off the etching press and see how the variation in the colours used makes such a difference.

The second plate was from this drawing of palms done in the Gardens near the Herb Garden. The first was inked up in that lovely sanguine ink again, and the second one with Charbonnel Prussian Blue. Charbonnel are beautiful French inks for fine art printmaking. If you want to know about the process of making solar plate etchings from your drawings or photographs I have written up a short explanation on the glossary of my blog here.

More solar plate etchings from the Gardens

Last summer I made some solar plates from my drawings from the Botanic Gardens. It was only last Sunday at Seraphina Martin's Printfest that I had the opportunity to print them in glorious colour. This first lotus plate was taken from this drawing.

The solar plates are made by transferring the drawing to architects' drafting film, and exposing a special plate with a polymer coating to the sun.

This narrow plate came from this drawing, again from the lotus pond.

The lion has been on this blog before, but not in such glorious technicolour. Seraphina mixed up some gorgeous colours for us to roll over the plates with, and I bought some new 'Gardens-coloured' inks to inks up with - a leafy green, a lotus red, and a gorgeous deep yellow you see in the lion's mane & legs.

I've printed these plates in a variety of colours and I can't decide which I like best. However this is my favourite of the colours I printed for the 'autumn' plate. She was inked up in my new leafy green.

I made 15 prints on Sunday and that's a record.

Solar Plate Etchings from sketches

Last week I made the first prints from my new solar plate etchings based on my drawings in the Gardens.

The first one is based on two drawings - one of the statue of "Autumn" and a different drawing of banksia in the grounds of Lion Gate Lodge. Similarly, the lion has a different background in my sketchbook, and I drew in his actual surroundings from a photograph. These drawings are done on architect's drafting film. In each case I've used a pen for the main figure, then a very large soft pencil for the background.

The solar plate is exposed to the sun through the drawing, then after a few very simple and quick processes, I have a plate that is ready to ink up and run through a printing press.

The "Autumn" print has been done with Sanguine ink and a Cerulean Blue colour roll, and the "Lion" print with sepia ink, and a Cerulean Blue colour roll. I use Charbonnel inks for this process and I've just ordered a few more in "Gardens" colours.