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/