Cyclone Mouth

Right. Well, this is a Metal Plate Intaglio Etching.

For those wondering 'Now Mel, how does it all happen?' , I'll tell you.
The plate is first buffed(? Is that a word?), then bitumen is applied to the top and shellac to the bottom. Then the intaglio process begins. I used a sharpened nail to scrape away the picture. It then goes into the acid bath for 30 minutes. The acid eats away at any exposed metal, (anything not protected by the bitumen, in this case, the line work.)
If tone is desired, you cover up with bitumen anything that you don't want darkened. Then, into the acid bath again, this time for only a few seconds, depending on how dark you want the tone. You can do this as many times as you please.
Then rinse it off in turps, and voila! You have a prepared plate. And I haven't even talked about the printing process yet! (took me over 8 hours in the workshop to print off 6 plates... 3 prints each.... all A1 sized... = alot of work!)

I guess what I'm trying to say is... with all the hard work that's gone into it, please take the time to full view it! This being my first submission to dA in a year, I thought I'd come back in with a BANAG!

You can't really tell on the computer screen, but it is A1 sized on cream stonehenge paper.
Visual Art Grad Show 08.