What is Art but a Way of Seeing.....Thomas Berger

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CRAYON ETCHING--SCRATCHBOARD IN COLOR

  Crayon etching is scratchboard's sister, fraternally speaking, but the former has one-upmanship: color! Both need a medium to firm board, a prepared background, an ink or tempera paint top layer, and simple scratch/etching tools. Both incorporate strong line and textural cutting. Anyone who ever scribbled light colored crayons on paper and covered all with black crayon and then scratched into that, was initiated into the etching process. Now, we'll take that beginning experience to a higher level.

Here's a small demonstration of the steps from preparation to completion of a crayon etching. You will note many similarities to the scratchboard process---with the joy of added color.

  STEP 1. The drawing is made to scale. No black is used. Note the very important cross registration marks at the top and bottom.

  STEP 2. Next, the main outlines of the drawing are drawn heavily in black. This helps find the shape placements later.

STEP 3. Attach a sheet of tracing paper to the drawing. Lightly sketch all the black out lines without picking up the black crayon on the back of the paper. Remove the tracing paper. Draw the registration marks. With yellow chalk or pastel, redraw the black lines on the reverse side.

STEP 4.   Dust the entire crayoned surface with Plaster of Paris powder. Shake off the excess. Coat the drawing with thinned tempera paint. Do not cover the registration marks. Let dry. Place the chalked tracing over the drawing, matching the registration marks. Pencil over the black outlines transferring the yellow chalked lines to the top layer.

 STEP 5. Once transferred, the chalk lines help define the areas of the original shapes. These outlines should be etched first, revealing the black crayoned lines underneath. Then, with a good repertoire of lines, textures and shapes, the drawing can be interestingly etched area by area.

  Where scratchboard is strong contrast in black and white, crayon etching is enhanced by color. Both are wonderful media techniques to explore, and each is uniquely interesting.

flashing arrow    This is the process in general. Let's take a look at preparations in composing a color etching.

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