Scratchboard, Simple Etching With Strong Contrasts

  Amateur or professional, scratchboard offer a medium that can have many personal or commercial purposes. Scratchboard material can be purchased already inked or ready to be inked. Then there's the homemade variety ---which is what we always used.

  Starting with railroad board or any other smooth, medium weight paper, we rubbed a heavy coating of beeswax or white candle wax on a board- usually 9"X12" or 12"X18" with 1" borders. A teaspoon of plaster of paris was placed on top of the waxed surface and spread around,completely covering the wax and tapping the excess away. Then the entire board was painted with a medium thick black poster paint and left to dry. We would also make a few 4"X12" practise strips for each student as well.

  It's a good idea to develop a set of scratchboard "textures" and this was a requirement before beginning the actual work. Below are several student ideas that were developed from line designs, natural objects, geometric shapes and free forms. These offer many ways of interpreting a drawing naturally as well as texturally. Enjoy making a 9"X12" practice sheet of your own. Some of these may inspire you.

  The scratch "tool" can be any sharp pointed instrument: a nail, needle, sharpened wooden stick, etc. and of course, the scratchboard pen points which fit the proper pen holder. The above texture exercises were often practised by scratching into the board to produce the "white" lines and extended by scratching its reverse image producing black lines on white. Try this out! Sometimes, it's a real challenge.