I tried a new technique today – actually two new techniques, one to correct an error! I heard about using caustic soda to etch lino at Union Street Studio with Simone Tippett. Not having caustic soda to hand, I used oven cleaner, first masking off the areas that had been carved. Painting into the oven cleaner with a cotton bud, I was trying to create clouds. I haven’t printed the plate yet, but the oven cleaner eats into the lino and softens it, creating a more painterly effect than the graphic effect of carving.
The second technique was cutting a piece out of the plate and replacing it with a new piece, like a jigsaw. I used contact on the back of the plate to help keep the new patch in place, but it was a firm fit. Fingers crossed for printing!