Another print discipline entirely

I have been solely making linocut prints for several years now, with an ambition one day to be able to produce etchings again. I kept on seeing printmakers using craft presses (such as Sizzix) for budget etching presses, and I already had a selection of potential plates to use for a design - from copper and zinc to Tetrapak and drypoint /collagraph card. I still have my steel point and burin from art college, and a few tubes of intaglio ink. I found that a local craft shop had a Sizzix press so decided to take the plunge. It sat on my desk for a long time but I gradually collected relevant things towards printing (small felt blanket, piles of mount card off-cuts to pad the plate out under the roller). I decided to make my exchange print for this year as a drypoint, so found a gap in the busy schedule to start drawing a local stone wall onto the 10cm square copper plate with a chinagraph pencil, then to draw carefully into the plate with my steel stylus.

I proofed it when I was happy - unfortunately with the inks that I have, and maybe the pressure still not being right on the Sizzix, I can't seem to get the deep black that I want for the shadows.

However, I was inspired to try green instead of black, this made perfect sense as the wall is mossy and surrounded by leafy plants and trees, and it is this version that is in this year's International Print Exchange in Derby and all over the world.