It's all experimentation. There are so many different ways you can go w/ Printmaking... and clearly I have no clear focus just yet! So, what I did here was start with a copper plate, applied a soft ground, then laid various leaves & pine needles over the surface & ran it through the press to make the imprint in the ground. Then, the organic matter is removed & the plate is placed in the acid bath. Problem was, due to my inexperience & lack of knowledge in this technique, I applied too thick a ground, so when the leaf matter was pressed into the ground it didn't go deep enough... thus, when I put it in the acid bath it wasn't etching the way I would have hoped. Normally, you leave it in the acid about 1/2 hour... after conferring with a fellow student, I left it in for 5 hours!! Another issue I had was a combination of fresh & older leaves (the fresher leaves more of an imprint) so the etching was inconsistent. That said, I still enjoy the over all feel of the print. The larger print on the top was waxed, (encaustics) which turns the thin Japanese paper transparent, then I applied it to a natural background paper & then to the black paper to create a mat. The one on the bottom, I just chose to use part of the plate & print white ink on black paper. I'm currently in the process of reworking this plate & thinking of new ideas for my next print.
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