Hello!
i was sitting thinking about what i could write about, deciding that just throwing a bunch of photos of art up was kind of boring, and contrary to the ethos of steemit and the community, i decided i would walk through making a lithograph.because i dont think many people have seen it before.
these are photos from a litho i did in school (so dont judge me too harshly!). for those who have never heard of printmaking, or lithography: printmaking is the art of creating multiples from a matrix, on paper (i can get more in depth on what printmaking is if anyone is actually interested). a lithograph is a form of printmaking traditionally done on limestone (though now it can more easily be done on aluminum and polyester), the driving force behind lithography is based on the fact that oil and water don't mix.
first you have to grain your stone. this is similar to sanding, except it is with a giant round piece of steel, and carborundum, which you spin on the stone. its exhausting, yes, but it is how you get a smooth stone, clear the previous image, and make the stone level to keep it from breaking when you take it to the press to print.
next you have your initial sketch. which you draw on the stone using a "crayon" made of predominantly paraffin wax.
the wax in the crayon is extremely oily, which creates a mask when you etch your stone, the areas where you had marked will be hydrophobic, the areas you didn't mark will be hydrophilic.
after you are happy with your image you have to etch the stone with nitric acid and gum Arabic. (i have some videos and photos of this but nothing for this stone, so i can do another on etching later... it is truly an art all of its own, with some black magic mixed in).
when your stone has been etched twice, you are ready to proof and print (again no photos for this stone, but printing can be a post of its own.)
there are many ways to color a lithograph, i wanted to try whats called a sharpie mask in this one. the laquer in sharpies will hold ink on the stone without any etching, so i just filled in areas i wanted color in, and printed with the desired color.
here was the final product, a little messy, but a labor of love throughout the whole process. hope you enjoyed this little tangent. please ask questions, im happy to answer (or critiques, or praise, or anything really!)
have an amazing evening,
Shae
