Umbrella Plate Edition

Over the past few months Rob finished working on some new etchings, the editions are are available to buy exclusively through TAG Fine Arts and you can see them all here. 

Within the pages of our latest SPQR newspaper you can read Rob's thoughts behind making his etchings. He etches the drawing with the tip of a metal scribe on to a metal plate, each plate is quite small, around 12 x 10 cm, and Rob uses a big illuminated magnifying glass so he can work in close detail. 

He explains, 'I always thought that the exciting thing about the whole process was that it was never corrected, every accidental scratch and mistake was revealed in the final print...It's an intensely personal experience, almost like you are trying to climb into the very plate itself to personally act out the story you are trying to tell. I'm not interested so much in making a brilliant print, I'm interested in making a good picture.  And working so closely and in such detail you begin to lose yourself in concentration.' 

Rob decided to use one of the etchings in particular to produce a new edition of plates. The plates are made in the same way as our previous edition, you can read about them from my post on June 11th. As this edition is printed in black the only difference with this process is we didn't have to do as much colour sampling. Rob's drawing is screen printed using ceramic ink then a cover coat to create the transfer. Once dry, it is ready to be carefully placed on the ceramic before being fired. There is a final firing in our kiln for the signed edition number in gold lustre on the back. 

The final plates are an edition of 22. Rob is currently in the early stages of producing a further edition of plates from his etchings so I will write a new post soon to show you a behind the scenes look at it being made.

Louise Renforth

Studio Assistant