As the ice melts, you retreat

Stephanie Richter  As the ice melts, you retreat  2017  photopolymer photogravures on paper

A work in progress

As the ice melts, you retreat is a series exploring the nature of global warming and the direct impact this temperature increase is having on one of the coldest places on earth. The images in the series show the interior of a naturally-occurring glacial ice cave on the south-east coast of Iceland. The many glaciers in Iceland are retreating at an alarming rate -  these photographs were made in at Vatnajökull (Vatna Glacier, arguably the largest ice-cap in Europe) which is retreating on average one metre per year. This alone, might seem shocking, until you hear that Sólheimajökull is retreating on average 100 metres per year.

!00. metres. per. year.  

More about the series and the printing process

For now the As the ice melts, you retreat series consists of the eleven images shown here. They will be printed as photopolymer photogravures, a process that takes the original photograph and creates a printing plate [via an inkjet printer and uv exposure unit] for use in an etching press to create an intaglio print. This hands-on process adds the variables of hand-mixed ink and innumerable paper choices, as well as a lovely texture and indentation where the edges of plate are de-bossed into the paper. Each time you ink the plate is different, and each print and sheet of paper shows the hands of the maker. 

I recently took a workshop in this printmaking process with four images from the series with the guidance of Silvi Glattauer at The Baldessin Press. The resulting prints are the three you see at the top of the page, the fourth plate was not quite right. You can read more about the process, and how I decided on the final blue tone over on my journal. I'm looking forward to exploring photogravures further and seeing where this takes the series.

Deciding on scale

A month after the first workshop, I made it back to The Baldessin Press. This time I wanted to scale up to really see the detail in the ice. The original A5 scale was great for testing the images and inking-up relatively quickly. Jumping up to A3 gave me a sense of how the photogravure process changes, and what skills I need to work on, to print well at scale. I also added in a border which, whilst it makes the work more obvious as an intaglio print with its lovely deep indentation, it is a challenge to keep clean. My edges definitely need some work! This plate will be cut down to even edges around the image before editioning.

Borders and blue-blacks

Back at The Baldessin Press again in May, this time to trim down the plate for even borders around the full image and to produce the 'perfect' print. No pressure.

I spent some time working on the tone of the image, I felt it had gone 'too blue', particularly in the highlights.