Caustic Soda Lino Etch – technique
I love this technique, but please be aware that Caustic Soda is highly toxic and corrosive, and will not only etch your lino but also, given the chance, skin, flooring, painted or varnished surfaces and textiles.
So, I wear thick rubber gloves, an apron and eye protection. I protect surfaces with newspaper, open windows or work outside.
The mix can be applied straight onto the lino for a very free and painterly effect, though I usually ‘stop-out’ areas which I dont want to etch. I paint on a thick black stop-out normally used in the etching process, made by Charbonnel called Lamour Black Covering Varnish, sometimes scratching back into it with a sharp knife. Drawing with candle wax or waxy pastels/crayon will also work though the caustic soda will eat through anything not applied thickly enough. It always eats through in some places but that’s part of the excitement of this very unpredictable, textural method.
Once the stop-out is dry, I put on gloves, eye protection and apron, put newspaper down. Taking a glass jam jar, I fill it about a third full of water, sprinkle in a couple of teaspoons of dry wallpaper paste flakes into the water and mix. Leave for 3 or 4 minutes until it thickens. Now I carefully pour in about 2 teaspoons* of caustic soda granules and stir with a wooden stick.
*I dont use anything metal in this process as the caustic soda reacts with many metals. Always start with the water and add the caustic soda to it. Read the instructions on the back of your caustic soda container – it will give you the safety procedure.
The mixture will heat up and give off fumes.
If any gets on your skin then it really burns. Wash immediately with lots and lots of water. Vinegar will also apparently neutralise the process.
Using the stick I apply the now thick gloopy mixture to my lino. Wait 2o-30 mins.
Washing off the plate under a hot tap using a toothbrush to clean the surface thoroughly, I take care not to splash the mixture back at myself or at the surroundings. Pat dry with newspaper. I then wash any unwanted mixture down the plug hole with copius amounts of hot water.
The depth of etch will vary depending somewhat on the strength of the mix, the age/type of your lino, and the temperature. A test strip using different resist methods, and timings helps to establish what might happen.
As you can see, 5 mins hardly etches at all, but does give an all over texture, and 60 mins bites very deeply so there is much more contrast.
Remove your stop-out, the black varnish comes off with white spirit. Candle wax can mostly be scraped off and the remainder melted off with layers of brown paper and a just warm iron
Print plate as per usual. Repeat for reduction print.
Any large expanse of etched lino will still pick up ink as the paper is pushed down into the etched area, especially when hand printing using a barren, but this can be used for good effect. You can deliberately push the paper down onto the plate to pick up ink.
Category: Techniques | Tags: Caustic soda lino etch 10 comments »
April 24th, 2007 at 13:44
this is a wonderful tutorial, Carol. I’ve not done much testing with this method, and I was too anxious to continue. Now I’ll have to try again!
April 24th, 2007 at 13:54
Thanks very much for this, I love the painterly look of your prints!
April 25th, 2007 at 15:54
hi
Thanks a lot for explaining the method so nicely.
I was searching it from many days.
Please can u also tell how to take prints from that???
It will be so grateful.
April 25th, 2007 at 17:44
Once the lino is completely clean you can just print it as you would any other lino print.
April 25th, 2007 at 21:58
Thanks for a great explanation. I especially appreciate the visuals.
April 26th, 2007 at 18:26
Thank you so much for that tutorial. I had no idea you could treat lino this way. It’s fascinating and I love the results you are getting.
August 16th, 2007 at 15:43
I’ve done this numerous times, mostly for half tones (aka aquatint in linoleum). However, I’ve had to let the mixture sit for hours before getting a good “bite”.
I’ve been mixing the soda with acrylic medium, which may be the reason it takes so long….thanks for the tip on using wallpaper paste, I’ll give that a try. For edges, I make “dams” out of plasticine to keep the mixture in bounds.
I use oil based inks via rollup, and have found that I have to clean the linocuts after a few prints because the tiny pores start getting clogged.
It certainly is an adventure.
btw….very nice blog.
Cheers.
Vlada
January 21st, 2008 at 16:29
Carol
Hello I am also finding this useful as a reminder of how you go about making a lino etch.
I have used it for an intaglio print once before and it looked really nice. I love the tone that one gets just from the lino itself anyway and with the etched areas as well along with cutting into the lino for the ink to sit in the grooves — well its perfect . So here goes lets see how I get on this time
March 22nd, 2008 at 15:49
Thank you very much for a very detailed, yet simply method of working with Caustic Soda, I’m about to try this method and was very nervous, I will most my results in a couple of weeks if I’m successful. Fingers crossed
Weef
July 10th, 2009 at 07:50
Hello Lesley, you have a very clear and beautilully laid out blog.
I found your tutorial most interesting and I will certainly try your method. I once experienced etching lino loosely (no resist varnish available) with the product used to clear water drains, and… it worked, although I had to leave it bitting for ages.