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/