Intaglio printing

Margaret Cooter had a beautiful post yesterday about intaglio printing and it really made me long for my days in Kathryn Reeve's intaglio class in the print studio at Purdue University's art department. I thought I would share some of my prints with you.



This is the first intaglio print I made. We started by making a collage composition of pictures from magazines.



This print titled "Accidental Anatomy Lesson" is based on a medieval anatomical print. Another artistic result of Dan's accident, the text in the back is from his surgical report. (Click on the image to see a larger version.) Learning to write backwards was tricky. I used a mirror at first to override my brain's wanting me to write the correct way. After etching this plate, I understood how da Vinci was so easily able to make notes in his notebook backwards! It's a matter of retraining your brain.



This is detail from another print--a little self-portrait.



"It's a girl!" was made using a collographic plate created using fabrics that were embossed or heightened in some way--brocades, dotted Swiss, etc. You get a much crisper image with a collographic plate using intaglio printing because of the pressure the press can exert on the plate.