I am posting on these door knobs for Diane whose latest post has a photo of a door knob which I take to be on the beautiful house she and her husband are renovating in France.
I had planned, back in 2002, to do a series of etchings on door knobs, having photographed hundreds whist travelling with my daughter in Europe. I had drawings for 13 of them - only these three were ever done!! I moved on to other things, and these three etchings still remain as artist's proofs. One day I may print a few of them. In the meantime, they hang on my studio wall, reminding me that I used to be far less abstract in my etchings than I am now.
This etching above is a two plate etching - the patterned background being the first plate printed, then the second plate has all the detail of the knocker. The plate below is a three plate etching and is of a rather beaten up old metal door. I have used plenty of open bite in the main plate, and then the knob and the key are done on separate etching plates. Really, this etching needs more work before I am happy with it.
The etching of the Lion door knob is done on a single plate, mostly with aquatint and then subsequently a few line markings done to tighten up the image just a little. The colour is blended on the plate carefully, before the printing is done. Often you need to warm the copper plate repeatedly to be able to blend the inks successfully.
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| as you can see - this was not photographed with the etching held very flat! |
Some of the etching details can be seen in the photographs below. The lion knocker is my favourite and I have done a number of prints from it - finding that very often the second pull, when all the richness of the first layer of ink has gone, is often quite successful. I find this rarely happens with an etching plate. I know I have them somewhere in the studio ... can't lay my hands on them though.
