limitations and frustrations i have had so far with the dry point process

because i was limited to just using lines, it was hard to try and make my drawings in a tone of voice as there was limited ways i could make them different to any other etch.
that is one of there reason i wanted to experiment with adding colour to them to make them a bit different.
i have used the technique of using multiply lines with different width to create depth instead of cross hatching, much like the drawing technique i have started to use :-

however i struggled to do this when it came to large areas i needed to fill in, i felt it looked a but bare and it was did not communicate the idea of a block colour shadow area very well e.g- the umbrella on this print is meant to be solid black, which i tried to communicate using multiple lines, however it just looks like a pattern instead of a block colour. 

though i wasn't pleased with the etching technique on the umbrella i tried the technique of cross hatching to fill in a block space on this print below (girl on swing), and i think my multiple line technique works better. :-

general frustration of the etching process: beucase i prefer to work with detail and like having the control of a pencil or a pen, it took some getting used to to work with a different tool where i lost some of this control. it was frustrating how the tool could easily go off track causes unwanted lines which obviously can't be erased like a pencil mark.

the limitations of just using traditional printing methods and not being able to improve the prints does add pressure in creating a effective professional print. 

plates: 

another reason i chose drypoint etching was because i was intrigued/interesting in being able to etch into anything that is thiner than a 2p piece, i therefore thought this would be ideal to find a transparent plate where i could see the image through the plate, allowing me to trace and follow are more direct path, instead of making it up as i go along, something i have never liked to do as i find mistakes easily happen. 

however it was harder than i though to find a plate suitable enough for the drypoint process. 

problems with the transparent plates i experimented with: - 

• too thick which meant the late buckled under the pressure of the plate coursing lines thought the paper i was printing onto and damaging the plate to use again. 
• the suface was not smooth enough which made it difficult to wipe off the excess ink, resorting to having to use oil to loosen it up which also got rid of the ink that i wanted to remain on the plait. 

i then found another type of plastic which you could see though but was not 100% transparent. however this plate had a grain on the surface which the ink stuck to making it even more difficult to remove the excess ink 

assertate plate: i then went to another extreme and used assertate as a transparent plate- however beucase of the thiness of the plate i had to be very carefull when etching into it as i could easily etch though it, therefore some lines i created where not deep enough and did not show up when i printed from it. also because assotate is a softish material it was very hard to etch into.

SO i have ended up using the standard drypoint plates to ensure that each stage of the print process will work properly and therefore the prints will be to the best quality they can be. however this is slightly frustrating as i feel i have wasted alot of time trying out different plates when i could have stuck with the original plates and had that time to improve the quality of my actual etchings.