American Master Printer Phil Sanders visited the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in March 2017 to work with Master Printer Jillian Ross and her team, in collaboration with with Deborah Bell, on a new series of intaglio prints. This collaboration saw Bell exploring the spitbite technique further.
“Spitbite aquatint involves painting strong acid directly onto the aquatint ground of a prepared plate. Depending upon the time the acid is left on the plate, light to dark tones can be achieved. To control the acid application, saliva, ethylene glycol or Kodak Photoflo solution can be used”. Read more about other printmaking terms and techniques here.
Combined with Bell’s sensitive use of drypoint (working directly onto the plate with burnishers to work in light tones and roulettes and needles to bring in darker marks), the spitbite technique allows for subtle soft tones to come through in her images.
Keep an eye out for the series launching soon.