In 1999, Pam Paulson and I invited Ross Bleckner to make prints with us at our tiny studio in Emeryville, California. He arrived early in the morning, briefcase in hand, ready to go. We had prepared for the project by purchasing an airbrush, a tool that Ross had been using to make his large-scale molecular paintings. He explained that he made his paintings by coating his canvas with a thin oil-paint wash. While the wash was still wet, he used the airbrush to blow away a tiny dot of the wash, creating small areas of unpainted canvas that were ringed with wash. The results were paintings reminiscent of molecular structures or images found under the microscope.

After explaining the basic principles of aquatint, and discussing the current method Ross was using to create his paintings, he asked a simple question that led to the completion of eight of nine aquatints: “Is there any way to blow away the dark?” he asked.

Aquatint is a method of creating a flat, even area of tone in an etching. We used rosin dust to do aquatints at the press, although some etchers use spray-paint or Xerox toner to make their aquatints. Rosin is hardened pine-sap. It is ground into a fine dust; put in a large, enclosed box; and activated with a fan so that the dust becomes airborne. Next, the copper plate is inserted into the dust storm, and the rosin settles on the surface in a random dot pattern on the plate.

ROSS BLECKNER; Arrangement, 1999 Color Aquatint Etching, 40” x 31”

The plate is removed from the aquatint dust box and heated to melt the dust specks into tiny drops of golden rosin that are stuck to the plate. Once the plate is inserted in the acid, the acid bites around each dot of rosin-resist and creates a random dot pattern that is etched into the plate. The resulting etch resembles sandpaper or a rough surface that holds tiny pockets of ink in place: when printed, the aquatint appears as a solid area of tone.

For Ross, we dusted a plate with an even layer of rosin power and then carefully placed the plate on his work table. He experimented with using the airbrush to blow away the powder to create an image in the dust. Once he finished manipulating the dust, we melted the powder to the plate, etched it, and then washed it off to print.

Ross Bleckner uses the airbrush to manipulate an unmelted aquatint, 1999

Where the rosin powder had been blown away, we were able to polish the plate, creating a smooth surface that didn’t hold ink. The resulting images are of soft lines blending from dark to light with a hazy edge, closely emulating a series of watercolors Ross did in the 1980s in which he painted with bleach to create lines of hazy light in an otherwise dark field.

For his prints, Ross punctuated the soft airbrush lines with areas of dark, laid in by hand with aquatint spit-bite, a method of painting acid right on the plate. The results were stunning.

Ross Bleckner: Pathway L, 2002 Aquatint 37.5” x 35”

Ross worked with us again in 2002 and used the airbrush method then too, creating two stunning images: Pathway L and Pathways. These two prints conjure the night sky; they are stunning and celestial. We were blown away by Bleckner’s stars.

Printers are often looking for inventive ways to push the printmaking medium. Searching for revolutionary techniques to use with artists in the studio is part of the role (and the fun) of being a master printer. Over time, the digital revolution has made its way into the printmaking studio, changing the way the intaglio plate is made, but not the way it is printed: by hand. Today, it is commonplace to use a flat bed digital printer to put a photographic image onto a copper plate, which is much faster and easier than photogravure, an ancient technique that requires a dark room and a lot of expertise.

FLATBED DIGITAL PRINTING IN THE PRINT STUDIO:1. Flatbed digital printer prints Chuck Close’s: Kate Moss photographic image onto a lithography plate.2. A flatbed digital print of Kate Moss on copper plate.3. Etched image of Close’s Kate Moss in the p… — FLATBED DIGITAL PRINTING IN THE PRINT STUDIO:
1. Flatbed digital printer prints Chuck Close’s: Kate Moss photographic image onto a lithography plate.
2. A flatbed digital print of Kate Moss on copper plate.
3. Etched image of Close’s Kate Moss in the process of being inked.
Photographs courtesy of Magnolia Press, Oakland CA

In 1997, Deborah Oropallo came to make prints in our studio. The digital revolution was revving up, but not typically used in the etching studio. At that time, Deborah was making large layered paintings by using a silkscreen to squeegee an image over and over onto a large prepared canvas. In effect, she was creating these richly layered repetitive images using a printmaking technique. So when Deborah came to the press, we prepared several silkscreens in advance to use in the studio to make her etchings. When completed, Deborah’s images are, in effect, prints within prints.

For her paintings, Deborah would use a “positive screen,” squeegeeing the image with paint right on to her canvas. Intaglio requires using a “negative reverse screen” so that asphaltum can be squeegeed onto the copper plate, protecting the non-image area from the bite of the acid. If text is involved, the text must be reversed so that once the plate is printed, the words read correctly.

Coupon, 1997 is an example of the silkscreen technique involving text. It was the first time I had used the silkscreen method with an artist. What makes this print so lush is the combination of Deborah’s crisscross composition of coupon tickets, infused with numerous thin layers of delicate spit-bites and aquatints. This small but rich print was made with nine plates.

When Deborah returned two years later, we used the silkscreen technique again to create four stunning large color prints: Recoil, Trace, Post Rank, and Post Central.

I asked Deborah to talk a little about her images. She explained that she has always been inspired by looking at the things she sees everyday: items found in her studio and her house. The ivy from Trace graces her backyard, the rope from Recoil lies coiled in her studio. Banisters found in Post Rank and Post Central line her stairway. The layering and use of these domestic scenes removes them from everyday life as they take on a new meaning—the same way the rich layering of a simple coupon found cast away in back of a desk drawer suddenly feels like a glimmer of hope and a token of luck.