Xenia Fedorchenko organized
Be Still My Heart!, a themed portfolio for the 2011 SGC International conference.
Early this year thousands of blackbirds fell from the sky in Arkansas, with lightening the suspected cause. In
For the Birds, blackbirds perch on heart rot and feed on damselflies, with a canary looking on.
Below are process photos showing how the print was made.
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| For the Birds, 2011 |
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| Studio set-up for working on soft ground drawing. The t-square acts as a bridge over the sensitive soft ground plate. |
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| Complete soft ground drawing on tracing paper. The wood strips to the left and bottom act as registration and support for the bottom corner of the plate, while the mat board squares at the top keep the plate from shifting to the right. |
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| Soft ground drawing in progress, with soft ground removed from the plate to expose the copper, transferred to the back of the tracing paper. |
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| Detail of the complete soft ground drawing on the copper plate. |
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| Soft ground state proof. |
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| White ground painting. |
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| White ground state proof. |
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| To add more contrast, stiff litho ink is relief rolled onto the plate to stop out the light values for additional etching. |
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| Several passes of litho ink add enough resist. The ink is allowed to dry overnight, with several areas stopped out before etching. |
