Today I made my first production print from the giant pear plate! It took me about an hour to create one print, but it is beautiful.

The print used Akua Intaglio carbon black ink on damp Rising Stonehenge paper. Since the plate vastly exceeds the dimensions of my humble etching press, I went old school, resorting to the Akua pin press and a baren. I had to peel pack the paper many times in order to reapply ink in areas with pinholes. Given the amount of work involved, I am expecting this to be a very limited edition.

The production print dries underneath the first proof.

I’m trying a new method of drying that flattens the print without disturbing the ink and the embossing. The wet print is pinned to a piece of sheetrock using push pins spaced every three inches.