Tesla, printed

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla looking as his sultry self,
Photo by Carolyn Kimball.

Here's my laser cut intaglio result from yesterday. Info on the matrix here. I used a variety of wiping techniques on 3 different pieces of paper, just to work out the kinks. Pictured is my best result on Rives Lightweight. I wiped the plate first with phone book paper, then spot wiped Tesla's face with a blue shop paper towel to give it more contrast than the background, then I wiped the face a bit with my bare hand to soften the eye and mustache area. The paper was spritzed with water before printing. OH, I need to point out that the paper almost stuck to the plate. It didn't want to come off, but I pulled it gently and luckily the paper didn't stick. I think next time I'll put the paper in a damp bag for a bit so the fibers soften and don't give me that kind of anxiety. (I used Rives BFK in my other proofs without any sticking, but ran it though a water bath 2x before blotting, so it got more water time.)

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla and the Birth of Radio

I need to lighten the eyes by raising them
with a layer of gel medium plus add some carborundum/gel medium mixture to the mustache. Even though the mustache appears to have "etched" fine, it's a large uniform area and I'm wiping out too much ink as is. I'd like to color the background. I could use another piece of mat board and mark where ink should be removed from a relief roll, and make this a 2-plate print. One awesome thing about the laser cutting machine is that I can get an absolute copy of this with precise Tesla location.