Really bad photo of the first litho print of the semester.

I am maybe kind of okay at drawing side-boob.

Not completely pleased with the hair. I may have another go at it with the scroll saw.

Contemporary cameos with contemporary hair.

Today’s experiment of mixing oil paint with litho ink went well. 

This has gotten me thinking about even more unconventional and sparkly ink/modifier experiments.

I should probably be working on geology homework instead of drawing on the cover for my stone.

Monster litho proofs.

Still no idea how I’m getting everything done for tomorrow, ugh.

Two or three more runs to go on this.

Atticstring and I have been playing comment/ask me tag about Sharpie flats, so this will be an attempt at covering all the previous questions and all potential questions to the best of my knowledge on the subject. Hopefully this doesn’t come off as a really boring essay.

Sharpies are frequently used on aluminum and polyester plates, but hey guess what, they can be used on stones too! They produce solid flats and ideal for images that will have many translucent color areas. (Tonal images with Sharpie are possible, but that is a separate topic.) The greatest benefit of Sharpie is the speed for printing successive flats. No graining is necessary to draw a new Sharpie layer; the previous layer can washed out with varnish thinner and once the thinner has completely evaporated from the stone, it can be drawn on again.

Drawing on the Stone
Grain the stone as would normally be done for a crayon drawing. It is possible to get away with only graining the stone to 180, but this could cause problems when inking up later. Using a brand new black Sharpie, draw an even layer onto the stone. After it is completely dry, draw a second layer over the image.

Regular Sharpies, chisel tip, and Magnums can be used. Fine tip pens don’t produce an even coat, unless it is one of the double-sided Sharpies with a regular tip at one end and fine on the other. The felt nib is what helps lay down an even coat. Old Sharpies are unreliable and will require more layers in order to print well.

Deletions can be made using a razor, but ethyl alcohol and a small brush or q-tip is better. The etch won’t use any acid, so parts scraped out with a razor will have the tendency to grab ink and fill in during printing.

The First and Only Etch
When the drawing is finished, wait five minutes for the Sharpie layer to completely dry. Pour pure gum on to the stone and work it around for five minutes. Wipe off excess gum and buff it down to a good even layer with tarlatan. The stone only needs to rest for twenty minutes before printing.

Mixing Ink and Printing
Sharpie flats require a very stiff ink. If the flats are going to be translucent and layered, make sure to add Setswell and magnesium carbonate to the ink. If the ink is too loose, it may spread and get pushed into non-image areas on the stone during printing.

Wash off the gum coat and begin rolling up with ink with a rubber roller. Sharpie flats  take longer to ink up, so don’t get discouraged if it takes many proofs.

Preparing for the Next Flat
Under a fume hood or Nederman, completely wash the ink off of the stone with Lithotine and a rag. Using a new clean rag, wash off the Sharpie layer. It will take several passes to remove all of the Sharpie and a ghost image will remain. After the stone is completely dry, it is ready to be drawn on again.

Don’t rely on the lacquer thinner to remove the ink and Sharpie layers from the stone. It may appear that the ink is completely removed, but some traces of it will remain and can cause horrible scumming later.

I’ve been exploring different drawing materials and solvents to develop new and refining existing less toxic techniques for stone lithography. I’m currently working with materials that are alcohol soluble, but I’m planning on experimenting with some other organic solvents that don’t have a petroleum base.

Today I was finally able to achieve the range of tones I wanted on the stone, but now I am struggling with how to keep the image stable because the particular hydrophobic material I’m using is delicate and burns out in nitric acid and fills in after pulling just a few prints. There are a lot of variables to mess with ranging from ink modifiers, different rollers, and weaker acids.

I’ll probably be reading a lot about esters, terpenes, terpenoids, polar solvents, and microfluidics during Thanksgiving break.

Oh Sharpie flats, I love and loathe you all at once.

Just three or four more flats to go and I can start something new on this stone. I am super over this image, even though I like it quite a bit.

I finally got around to printing the key image of this.

I’ve had so many problems printing these, but they’re about halfway done.

Key images done. Now to print six or more translucent flats on top. 

Doing something complicated which will make my hand worse. But it’ll look so good…