Daniel Steeves Technique 

Printing Technique

The process is one of working from dark to light. Dan first takes the zinc plates to a place that makes stone monuments where they sandblast the bare plate. (Dan also reuses old plates and sandblasts over the existing image). After doing a rough sketch on the sandblasted plate, he begins to paint with a high grade Charbonnel lithographic tusche (grease) using it as a resist, painting the plate in negative. The areas that he wants to be protected from the acid will have a heavier covering of grease hence will look darker on the painted plate. He continues to paint with the grease until he has put various tones all over the plate. He then immerses the plate into a vat of 1:5 nitric acid, where he etches the plate for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Dan takes the plate out, adds more grease with litho crayons, and then re-immerses the plate in the acid. He repeats this procedure several times until the image is ‘bitten’ enough by the acid. This may amount to a total time of around 25 to 35 minutes in the acid. After cleaning off all the grease, he uses tools to scrape, burnish, and sand the plate to make the various tones come out. The smoother the plate is, the whiter it will print. Dan then begins the proofing stage to determine what changes are necessary to complete the print. This can take anywhere from one to fifteen stages. Some areas may even need to be polished to achieve the desired whiteness. After all the stages are complete the print is editioned.

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