Prints From Glass (1986)
Catalog statement for an exhibition of prints from glass plates, Belk Museum, Western Carolina University, Culowee, North Carolina, 1986.
Glass is an excellent medium for printing. It's hard, perfectly flat surface can be worked in several ways to take up ink. Although the process is still rudimentary, it was possible to experiment and come up with finished prints of considerable subtlety.
My prints were made by spreading printers' ink over the glass plate, scraping the ink, and sandblasting the areas that opened through the ink. The plate was then cleaned and inked for printing. The sandblasted areas hold the ink which transfers to paper as "powdery" surface. The result is similar to a cross between a lithograph and a mezzotint, and possesses that quality which enhances color.
The adoption of more tractable resist, such as water-base gels, and more manipulatable sandblasting tools, will do wonders for the technique. This is only a beginning: printing from glass should have a dramatic future.
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