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haiderali In reply to fzkhatri [2012-08-28 14:42:06 +0000 UTC]

It's regular Aquatint without etched borders on Zinc using Nitric Acid. Took a while to understand better so it's hard for me to give out a method it's dependant on many factors, temperature, purity of zinc, of acid, timings (most of which become second nature after many hours in front of the acid bath), viscosity of the ink, paper density, acid burns and how much they sting enough for you to go crazy until you get something you like, and of course lots of buffing!

All in all I've been a printmaker for over 4 years now and out of all the techniques I've done Aquatint is by far the most delicate and time consuming I've been able to experience and like all other methods it's pure trial and error. So there is no method.

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fzkhatri In reply to haiderali [2012-08-29 21:14:26 +0000 UTC]

Hmm, I understand. I guess what I was wondering was if its a photo transfer method or a more organic varying of biting times. I only started printmaking earlier this year (on copper) so I'm not too well versed with the different methods, but from what you described it seems to be more organic. Your prints are stunning, by the way, I can only imagine how beautiful the textures are in person. Brilliant use of the light-dark range that aquatint offers..

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haiderali In reply to fzkhatri [2012-08-31 06:29:05 +0000 UTC]

It's in effect blind aqua tinting. I stop out areas as I see them from the image directly on the plate, I've tried several methods of transferring the image but they all ended in disasters. It is a pain staking method but time proves fruitful. There is no deep lines or etching on the plate it's only very shallow aqua tint etching so just tones.

This is by far my most successful piece, the other plates have been more difficult.

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