New, small plate.

 I'm having trouble nailing down the final sketch for another 6"x9" copper plate, so I made myself just sketch directly into the ground on a prepared 3"x5" for an hour or so. No preliminary pencil drawing or plan; just grab the stylus and draw. The result is this little plate below I call "Remember!"

Unfortunately, her left hand is totally and completely WRONG. Gah!! And not just a tiny bit; that's what I get for trying to draw mirror-imaged when I already can't draw hands to save my life without some sort of model or reference. Then, in an object lesson on going too far, I heavied up some of the other lines too much after trying to correct the hand problem — which didn't work to pull her away from the background. Result: State #1 was a more satisfying and delicate sketch than State #2. Now, I'll need to do further burnishing on the hand to fix it and knock back the heavier lines I added to her waist and chest and in her hair. I'll have it ready to put it back in the etching tank for Friday morning; I won't spend a lot more time on this, but if I can salvage it, I will.

State #1, February 12th, right out of the tank. (These are both fairly rushed wipes, to finish by the end of the print session; I can see all the thumbprints and rough edges.

State #2, an half-hour later; after going too far, and yet — not far enough:

Fortunately, one of the beautiful things about working with copper, as opposed to plexi, zinc and other etching materials, is that it's so malleable and forgiving. Another thing though: scans of etchings on heavy paper look FAR more wavy than they do in a photo or just sitting on a table. The glass bed of the scanner tends to highlight the raised areas of the emboss and make the overall color less even and blotchy. Shows every flaw in the wipe-off. I place books and other heavy objects to try to flatten the prints down, to no avail.