Yea! Talked to Mark at Z Acryl about the foul bite experienced with his hardground on copper--he's surprisingly accessible. Turns out I was not fully degreasing my plate. He suggests cleaning with Bon Ami, then continuing with a super thin application of the hardground. I used alcohol previously and I probably didn't do the greatest job. (I have the tendency to get super excited and skip formalities. No longer!) I've attached a picture of my print with the foulbiten plate. I've since done some handwork with my scraping tool. I'll see how I did tomorrow when I proof the plate again. This work will eventually be two plates. The second one is a red and white checked chessboard.

This is the other print I'm working on. I applied the orange organza using YES paste and a credit card as a squeegie. I have some handwork to do yet. In the background you see my awesome foot cushion that cashiers have if they're lucky. Keith got me the deluxe, super squishy one last year for Christmas. Go Keith!