The way I wanted to create the etching of this image was to use a single exposure solar etching, so that the black seeds would become white ghosts, to dramatise unfulfilled potential. I also wanted to completely fill a sheet of Somerset paper (560 x 760 mm if you want to know) and so I used four A3-ish plates.

I  developed using Photoshop to create the four strongly contrasty black and white acetate positives.

This purple/stone colour variant is the original version to get a feel for the plates and how they will look together. The four together gave me the inspiration for the title ‘Diffraction four’. I am pleased with the result, and I really like the smoky emptiness where the black seeds once sat, but I have a bit of a problem as I have only a few millimetres each side to place the plates up to the roller. It is possible but fiddly and I keep catching the inked plate on the paper.

My daughter told me that she had just the right place in her house to hang one of my new pieces, but it has to be green! Normally I would be a bit dismissive of matching to the decor but I think this has really worked well. I try a range of ideas to help minimise the inky messiness including covering the plates with cellophane while positioning them, but everything I try messes with the lovely flat tone and gives it a marbled look.

Its because I’m inking plates for single pass through the press, Inking the purple first with lots of plate oil to make it runnier than usual. This is helpful as it really gets into the intagliations (the etched micro pits that take the ink) and is attracted strongly to the polymer which is lipophylic (oil-loving). I then rolled over the relief coloured ink which I have modified by adding magnesium carbonate powder to make it stiff, which seems to work to minimise the purple ink setting off against the colour on the roller. I picked up this technique from Printmaking in the Sun by Dan Welden and Pauline Muir. As it is an American book it uses a lovely metaphor of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, where spreading the jam on the peanut butter doesn’t result in any mixing due to the differences in the viscosity between the two spreads.

I finally decide on a strongly coloured orange and purple variant as I wanted to create a really strong statement. And I have also decided to cut down the plates in order to give me an extra 20 mm of room at the edges to make it easier to fit the plate alongside the roller. I am so pleased that I submit it for this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, but I am afraid to say that I have not been shortlisted this year. As you never know what the theme of the show is before the final show is unveiled then it is always a bit of a lottery. I feel that it is at least as good as last year’s successful entry.

Following a printing evening class at West Herts College I discovered a natural affinity for printmaking. I make linocuts, drypoints, woodcuts, mono prints, collagraphs and etchings. Many thanks to Lucy Curnow and Paul Gale for their patience – they were an inspiration and made sure I developed no bad habits.

Of the broad range of printmaking techniques we covered, photopolymer etching is the one that has most influenced me and consequently the design of my home studio.

I have been lucky enough to find excellent artists and work with them in their studios, essentially creating my own art school curriculum. I am grateful to Sheila de Rosa, Helen Boden and Susan Turner for letting me really understand the creative possibilities of photopolymer etching.

USING THE SPACE

Faced with an empty room it is possible to put everything in a logical position, allowing a flow around the room from clean dry areas for image/plate preparation to clean, wet areas for soaking paper, a blotting paper area, and on to dirty inky areas to mix colours and ink up plates. Then a big clear area for the intaglio press. One corner of the studio is given over to a high-intensity lightbox, with a timing shutter to expose the plates (which is more controllable than using sunshine, although that is a fun process). And a big guillotine – a specialised PCB (printed circuit board) shear is the ideal type capable of cutting A2 plates.

Unlike conventional acid etching, which uses chemicals that need careful handling – photopolymer plates are developed in environmentally-friendly tap water. So all I need is a sink and trays for water. Plus a kettle to keep the water at the right temperature, a hand-friendly 20 degrees C.

FINISHING TOUCHES

Finally, once the print has been pulled it needs drying for which I use a stack of leftover plasterboard (with the edges gaffer taped to prevent gritty plaster dust escaping) these boards are heavy, flat and absorbent.

Otherwise I have cupboards big enough to stand in, if I need to be in low-light, a hairdryer to dry plates once they have been exposed and developed, and a plans chest to store all the Somerset paper I print on, acid-free tissue to keep prints clean and ink away from press blankets and the drying boards, newsprint for general use and then wacky coloured and textured papers for chin-collé (torn bits glued to paper and overprinted for added interest).

Sounds complicated now I write it all down, but in reality because it is all ergonomically laid out it makes total sense to pass round the studio from the start of the process to the completed print.