Since there is apparently no other source for ready mixed White
Ground
currently available, I'm offering it here. I've used White
Ground
(the recipe from Ruth Leaf's book) for decades, and have also developed
my own recipes for similar but more permeable grounds (Soft
Edge stopout and Cloud Stopout) which are
similar, and are used similarly. I have found White Ground to
be
too
hard a stopout for getting satisfactory mid-tone painterly effects with
some degree of control. You can get interesting textural
effects,
but if your expectations are too specific it ends up stopping out too
much,
or not enough. The other stopouts offer more of a range of tones,
and
a higher degree of control, though even with them precise tonal control
is
quite a trick. (Of course, precise tonal control with etchings is
always
quite a trick!) For those interested, here are some more
detailed
technical
notes.
I'm offering a 4oz jar of White Ground for $5.00, and a 4oz
jar of the Soft Edge
stopout
for the same, $5.00. A shipping & handling charge of
$12.00
(domestic) or $20.00 (outside US) will apply to each order, regardless
of quantity ordered for orders of 4 jars or less. For orders
of more than 4 jars, please email me.
4oz jar of White Ground (Ruth Leaf recipe)
jar lid makes a handy palette
4oz jar of Soft Edge Stopout
Here is a 5 X 6 in. copper
plate with White Ground on the
left, and
Soft Edge stopout on the right. (The plate first had a
rosin/box
aquatint applied to it.) I tried to get them as similarly applied as
possible.
The top row was applied with a bristle brush, middle row with a wadded
paper towel, and bottom row with wet in wet sable brush. The
left
column of each stopout was etched to about 50% of tone and the right
column
of each to about 100% black. This is to illustrate the
comparative
blocking action of each ground at two different tonalities. Lines and
lettering
are with a red Staedtler Lumocolor 317 pen, which makes a good stopout.
Here is a print made from
the test plate above. (flipped for
easier
viewing)
