Description

Saturday and Sunday April 15 & 16 | 2023 | 10.00 – 4.30 | 6 places only

£120 Full/Keyholder member  |£140 Ordinary Member | £160 Non-member

BIG Safe Etching at SPW offers the printmaker a safer alternative in etching with the same level of creative opportunities as traditional materials without exposure to hazardous chemicals.

For the beginner, BIG provides an accessible process for spontaneous and diverse mark-making.

For the experienced printmaker, BIG provides a medium for consistent, excellent results.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the etching process and will include several approaches using hard and soft soft grounds.

You will also have the opportunity to enter work produced in the workshop for our MiniPrint Project.

A selection of the work will be exhibited at Mission Gallery, Swansea from 30th September to 28th October 2023.

This will involve working on plates that are 10cm x 10cm [which will be provided]

Baldwin’s Ink Ground (BIG) a Safer Alternative Etching Ground

There are many alternatives to the traditional etching ground on the market, many of which advertise themselves as the safer alternative. This may be the case but from my experience this is often to the detriment of quality and practicality. This common problem has put many printmakers off from trying alternatives, preferring to stay with the reliable time honored system. Did you know that a traditional etching ground contains arsenic, lead, mercury to name but a few toxic elements which can not only be breathed in through your airways but also absorbed through your skin. With ‘Big’ I feel I have not only provided a non toxic alternative but also a ground which is far more versatile. Because the main constituent is an ink it allows the artist printmaker to experiment with many different effects on their etching plate. Techniques ranging from soft and hard ground, photo etching, marbling, relief etching, sandpaper aquatints and coffee lift are but a few which can be explored. Big has been used at the School of Art University of Aberystwyth since 2002 and has been adopted in many other private and educational print workshops around the world. Trefeglwys Printmakers provides courses covering all the techniques which can be achieved with ‘Big’.

Andrew Baldwin