Intimate portrait of a woman

[joseph engraver]

I just finished this small piece of silver for printing and thought you might find some interest in how it was done.
I received my great prize from Steve of some very fine gravers and made a new set of tools for chasing and cutting my style of bulino.
In this series for pix you can see the first cuts made on the plate were the parallel lines on the left side to see how they functioned.
My first attempt at a straight line told me that the tools angles were off a bit as the tool wanted to drift to the right. I changed the angle a bit and made several more fine lines getting familiar with its feel. I then cut the rest of the border.
When I want to do my best work I do a lot of preliminary work. Tracings and a complete pencil rendition of the subject are needed. This helps me to find all of the small nuances the make up my subject,as I try to discern the shade of shadow and form that are there for me to find. That is my job, to translate what my eyes see onto a metal plate using two small burins. Once I have the principal lines drawn on the plate. I cut them deep enough that they are permanent. A screw up at this stage scraps the plate. That is why I made all those practice cuts and drawings before. The rest of the pix are to help you understand the work process.
Now, if I can find some one to print it the job will be complete. Does any one know a print maker?
Have a great day!

[santos]

Hi Joseph,


Thank You for showing the steps of your engraving. This is very helpful for those like me, who are trying to learn portrait engraving.

I haven’t found any shop in my neighbourhood that makes chalcographic prints. So I’ve tried to print them with a home made press.
It works if your plate is not too large (10X10 cm maximum)
If you want, I can show you a picture of my attachment made with a 5T Jack used to press the wet paper over the inked plate.

Best regards

Jean

[Daniel Houwer]

Hi Joseph,
I love the way you did the face of this woman. Realy great!
There is one thing I would like to know, Is she laying on her back? Cause if she is standing upright her breasts look a bit arkward. And the background doesnt suggest she is lying down.

[joseph engraver]

Danial,Those are her breasts,I fell in love with their awkwardness and have spent many blissful hours with my head resting on them.
She was standing when this photo was taken 30 years ago.Thanks for your comments and I hope the pix can be of help to you.

[Bielawski]

I recently took an intaglio and relief printmaking class and I could give you a quick rundown of how to make a print. First, talk to Santos and see if he can hook you up with a way to make a press. The one we used in my class was an old etching press - a thick steel plate bed with a roller. --Here's what we did
:
start by soaking some paper in water (preferably quality paper such as arches etc) leave it in the water until ready to print in order to remove the sizing.
bevel the edges of the engraved plate - this keeps the edges clean and ink free.
place the plate on a warm surface (not too hot or the ink will dry on the plate)
take a card charged with intaglio ink and spread the ink into the lines.
next a piece of cloth called a tarlatan(sp?) which is like crunchy cheesecloth is used to wipe ink from the surface (leaving ink in the cut lines)
take the paper out of the water and remove excess water with blotter paper
make a sandwich in this order - plate, paper, and felt blankets
press it

you now have a print. Thats how we did it in the studio - I assume that you dont have a printmaking studio but the information is there for you if you feel like coming up with any creative solutions to the lack of materials.

I could offer to make some prints for you if you like - you would have to mail me the plate - the image will be reverse but its entirely up to you - either way good luck.