Printmaking

Printmaking requires a great deal of patience, according to Miranda Halsby, an elected member of The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA).

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It can easily take a week to produce a couple of printing plates for Miranda, who makes etchings and aquatints, mostly on copper plates working from her own drawings. She starts by producing a pencil drawing that fits the plate size. This is transferred onto the plate after a wax coating has been applied. “I then draw through the wax with an etching needle,” says Miranda, adding that she uses ‘Edinburgh Etch’ solution of ferric chloride and citric acid powder, which “produces beautiful results on copper”. When happy with the drawing, the wax is removed and a black and white print is taken. If satisfactory an aquatint spray is applied to the whole plate. “This process puts different tones on the plate.” Miranda makes her own plates and does all her own printing. She likes to work in colour, sometimes putting all the colours on one plate using a method called 'a la poupee'. This places the colours exactly where they are wanted on the finished print. This method requires accurate and careful wiping to achieve a clean print. Alternatively, Miranda will make two or three plates, each plate bearing a different colour. A print made up in this way can take up to a week for the plates to be made. Print runs usually do not exceed 50 and it can take a day to produce just eight prints. A member of www.creativecoverage.co.uk, Miranda's work can be seen at the 296th RBA Annual Open Exhibition between March 6 and March 23, 2013 at The Mall Galleries, London.

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