textured surfaces; Tile grout and carborundom/ silicon carbide
In preparation for inking up the two plates, I sanded them down by hand (bottom left), front and back. The ‘texture’/crevasses left during the grout application can now be more emphasized by the relief printing process. I gathered graphite rubbings from each plate (bottom right) to see how they may turn out as prints.
There is a lot of ‘texture’ on the plates compared to the actual slate that inspired the work (bottom center). Using a fine grain carborundom (from sanding stone) I used a small baking sieve to flour on the carborundom on one side of each plate, leaving the reverse as is. The grain fell onto a thin layer of PVA on the plates. Days later I varnished the layers of carborundom with a thin layer of clear gloss. Now, hopefully the prints will have a grainy texture. I also hope to print the plain grout reverse sides, and compare results.