New etching: Hyperlinked

'Hyperlinked' is a new etching that I finished earlier this year and am slowly making an edition of forty-five prints from the copper plate of it at Edinburgh Printmakers.   

Hyperlinked (print 4/45)

This etching is one of a series of images I created as an ink study back in 2021 as a response to the lockdowns and the prolonged isolation they caused. The copper plate for this etching was aquatinted a few times to help achieve its tonality and high contrast. Some of the textures are achieved by painting directly on to the plate.

Ink study (left) and the final etching

Printed etching and its copper plate

Hyperlinked is as much about the state of feeling lost and adrift, with no clear vision of the future, as it is about friendship and maintaining contact with loved ones through the use of modern technology. 

Hyperlinked detail (print 4/45)

The constellation of glowing lights within the sails of the ship correspond directly to the constellation of lights depicted in 'When the Music Stopped', another etching I completed earlier this year:  

 

When the Music Stopped (etching, print 3/35)

Each light represents a friend beyond Scotland and the north of England whom I was video calling, messaging or phoning during Spring and Summer of 2020.  These individuals became an important form of support to me during those difficult months and contact with them (albeit through screens) felt akin to having masts, sails and rigging above me, helping to guide me forward.  

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An edition of forty-five prints of 'Hyperlinked' is being created.  A few of these prints are currently in my online shop at the link below and will be available to purchase from 

Wednesday 12th November 2025 at 5pm
  
https://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com/

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The making of Hyperlinked 

'Hyperlinked' was a challenging plate to create and I managed to ruin the first plate by over-etching it in ferric chloride.  Scroll down to see some pictures of it in progress.

The first step is always to needle the image on to the plate before etching it in acid...

The acid tanks (ferric chloride for etching copper)

The first prints of the first plate

Applying coffee lift, a process to add dark tonality to the plate

Ground is applied to the whole plate, and then it's submerged in warm water and the coffee-lift mixture falls off the plate, revealing an area underneath which then can be aquatinted and then etched in the ferric chloride tank.  

Just before dipping the plate in the acid bath again, which will darken the exposed copper

Stopping out areas to keep light

Aquatinting process (stopping out the lightest areas first and working light to dark)

More aquatinting

Second round of aquatinting

The copper plate is finished and can be printed from

Ink is applied to the plate 

Prints are taken on one of the presses

Different colour combinations 

The first batch of the edition, which will be forty-five prints

A framed copy of Hyperlinked ahead of this month's Members Show at Edinburgh Printmakers

 

Thanks for looking!  Copies will be available in my online shop in the link below from Wednesday 12th November 2025 at 5pm and also at Edinburgh Printmakers from the 27th of November 2025.  

 https://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com/

New etching: When the Music Stopped

'When the Music Stopped' is a new etching I've finally brought to completion and an edition of thirty-five copies is being created.  This new etching has taken an unusually long time to create, thanks to the many processes done to the plate in the print room to achieve the desired tonality.

Scroll down to see some work-in-progress photos and to find out more about the concept behind the piece.

Ink studies, the copper plate and a finished etching of When the Music Stopped

This etching grew out of some ink studies I created in 2021, pictured above.  The subject matter references the early days of the first lockdown in Spring 2020, where technology became the main way to maintain contact with friends and loved ones. 

Spring 2020

The subject matter is very personal to where I found myself when the pandemic began.  In early 2020, I was staying in a rented room in a flatshare (pictured above), which came with a huge colourful map of the world pinned to the wall. As we went into a national lockdown and travel became restricted, I began to envision a constellation across this map: a constellation of friends I was in touch with in different locations in the world, all of us forced to sit down where we were when the music stopped. 

This etching depicts this scene, with travel suitcases lying abandoned under the floorboards, a forgotten dress hanging up gathering dust, while a figure sits alone watching the screen of a laptop. The map is enlarged to reflect the significance it took on in my mind, as it seemed to acquire new meanings at different moments: an ironic reminder that almost all travel was now restricted; that almost nowhere on earth was free of coronavirus; and that every living person was facing the same disaster. 

The finished copper plate and a print from the edition

This plate was technically challenging to create but I am very happy with the finished results and am in the process of creating an edition of thirty-five prints.  

A few of these prints are currently in my online shop at the link below and will be available to purchase from 
Wednesday 12th November 2025 at 5pm
  
https://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com/

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The making of When the Music Stopped

The copper plate for this etching edition went through multiple rounds of both aquatinting and spit-bite (the direct application of acid on to the copper plate) to achieve its tonal gradations and high contrast.  In total, it went through five rounds of spit bite and four rounds of aquatinting, including one round of coffee-lift, which helped to darken areas like the map of the world above the figure.  

Below are some photos of these stages, including the long process of needling a map of the world (back to front) on to the plate:

The easy part...

...and the not-so-easy part: drawing the world back-to-front, with a needle (tracing paper did help)

Applying sugar-lift mixture to the land area...

...so it and other exposed areas there can be darkened in the acid baths

The acid baths: ferric chloride is used for etching copper plates

The finished result of this process to darken the land areas  

The result of the sugar-lift (applying positive dark areas to the plate)

Painting on stop-out on an aquatinted plate, which will block out the lightest areas

The copper plate after dipping it in the ferric chloride; this will darken the plate each time

The final dunking in the acid for this round of aquatinting

(gloves were worn when I did this step)

The ferric chloride has eaten into the exposed area of copper, which will create darker areas on the print

The plate is becoming increasingly bitten with each round of the acid and more textured

Spit bite: the process of painting the acid directly on to the plate

Another round of aquatinting: stop-out is being applied to the lightest areas

A before and after pair of prints: the plate is becoming darker

Another round of spit-bite: this time the acid was applied using a dropper and a swan feather

Success!  This is the final state of the plate (bottom)

Coloured ink can now be applied to the plate....

....and the first test prints can be made.

Once the colours have been worked out, multiple prints can then be made from the plate for the edition.

Thanks for looking through the steps taken on the way to making this print!  I'm really happy with the way it's turned out and have managed to get the prints to a place where it matches the tonality of the original ink sketch.  As always with etching, you always get unanticipated effects and accidents along the way, which is something I'm learning to lean more into. 

Copies will be available to purchase in my online shop from 
Wednesday 12th November at 5pm
 
https://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com/