How to Drypoint Etch Sharks into Acrylic Plexiglass

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water...
Watch how the drypoint intaglio printing technique can be done at home at minimal cost and using only a few tools to make this shark print. The only things you need are a sheet of plastic, a scratching tool, ink, and paper. A printing press can be pretty affordable compared to years ago. I got mine on Amazon. It will give you the best result, but you can also use a wooden spoon to push the paper into the etching plate and get a pretty good result.
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[@candicevalentine1175]

That technique is so cool 😍

[@suburbanartistry]

And the best part is you can repeat it many times to make as limited edition artwork. It's also great for making greeting cards.

[@candicevalentine1175]

@@suburbanartistry that's awesome 😎

[@chukwualukanwangwu6223]

How long does it take

[@suburbanartistry]

Great question! The scratching takes only what you want as far as time. Think of the scratches being just like pencil lines. You could keep drawing to make it darker and more detailed or keep it really simple. For printing it's only 10 minutes. The paper soaks for about 5 minutes, you can soak more than one at a time, and then blot the paper and let it rest for about 5. During this time, warm up the ink for about a minute, another to push it in the scratches, and then probably 5 minutes to wipe it down. Then, run the plate and paper through the press. This only takes seconds. If you need to use a spoon to rub the paper into the plexiglass because you don't have a press, this might take two minutes to really get the paper into the crevices to pull out the ink. You can immediately ink the plate again and repeat and make many prints. Smaller artworks will be faster to ink and wipe than larger ones because there's less surface area.

[@jamethedealmaker]

What happens if you use multiple colors of ink? Like useing blue on the background and black on the sharks and stuff?

[@suburbanartistry]

You could use multiple colors of ink but keep in mind that you are scraping it on with a card so being precise is hard, so having the color stop at an exact point might be hard to accomplish. Blending can also be cool. There is another option though, you can have one piece of plexiglass ( called the plate) where you have etched the background and a second plate where you have etched the shark. Then you print the background first, let it dry, then print the shark on it. You just have to use a registration system to make sure the paper is in the same place both times.

[@jamethedealmaker]

@@suburbanartistry oh that's super cool! Wouldn't that be a cool thing to do in a future video