Ray Maseman's solo show!

Ray Maseman's solo show "Charismatic Megafauna" was a  huge success!  Friends, family, and more came out to see his newest body of work. 

 To begin with, the blank copper plate is coated with an acid resistant material called hard ground. At New Grounds, we use Z-Acryl hard ground which does not require any harmful solvents to be removed from the plate. Instead, it is water-soluble when wet, and comes off with a mild soda ash solution when dry. A design is now drawn on the coated plate (not shown here) which exposes the copper underneath. It is made permanent by immersing the plate in ferric chloride – it literally etches the drawn lines into the plate. Ray passed around the coated plate and let people in the crowd draw on the plate.





The plate is now ready to be printed. To do so, ink (at New Grounds we use water soluble Akua intaglio inks) is carded over the entire plate with strips of mat board.







 

Once the plate is covered completely in ink, the excess is removed first by using strips of mat board and then a very stiff cheese cloth called “tarlatan.” To remove any excess plate tone, newsprint is used to wipe it off the surface.

 






The inked plate is now placed on the press bed, and it is covered with a sheet of printing paper. At New Grounds, we prefer Hahnemuhle paper because it is extremely absorbent.

Plate and paper are then covered with printing blankets which cushion the impact of the roller as the plate and paper are moved through the etching press. Note that the only purpose of the press is to apply very high pressure to the plate. We use Takach presses at New Grounds. 

The second inked plate is then placed in the same spot as the first one, and printed onto the first colored image.









The finished print!

Thanks to our interns for all the help!


 Thanks to everyone who made it out tonight and especially to the volunteers who helped make this show a success! Thanks, Jeff Simpson for taking the pictures!





If you missed the reception, Ray Maseman’s show “Charismatic Megafauna” runs through March 11th
www.newgroundsgallery.com