Etchings

As I stated in my last post, my next idea was to incorporate metal etchings into my project.  At the beginning of 3rd Year I had decided to only do a drawing project, one which I tired of quickly.  But with etchings, I see them as another way of drawing so I thought these would be perfect to bring into my project.  Doesn't hurt that I love doing them either!

I decided on going for A5 size etchings for this particular part.  I wanted to show the typical things you can get in places like Knock, the little throw-away, often cheap, small souvenirs.  Working with this size, I created 4 plates which each depicted a certain item - a rosary beads, 2 Holy water bottles, a key chain and a cross for a necklace. 

To show that these are cheap objects, I scruffed up the plates so that they weren't perfect.  I rubbed them off different surfaces so that scratches and marks would appear on the background.  If the result wasn't what I wanted, I was going to add an aqua-tint into the mix but thankfully my mishandling of the plates was enough to give me the effect I wanted.

 

 

I liked working with this size as they were a lot easier to handle and I think more effective than having all on one big plate.  Having printed them purely in black to give them a generic appearance, I then discovered Liliana Porter, whose work I found I could greatly identify with.

 

With her etchings she hand paints them in afterwards to add another dimension to her work.  So taking my cue from her, I lightly painted in areas of some of the etchings.

 

 





While I plan on showing them as purely etchings, I also want to try and incorporate them into other works, more than likely photographing them in a certain way for example in a shop like arrangement.