My Perfect House (Collection)

This etching "My Perfect House" was created in 2004. This collection includes 5 stage proofs which were used to experiment with colour and paper. It also includes the final test, the B.A.T. (bon à tirer) with signatures from Master printmaker Robert Van de Peer and Ann Manuel.

The collection also includes an artist proof (AP V/VI), and one unframed etching with chine collé (18/20 VE) and a framed etching with chine collé (13/20 VE). (VE is Variable Edition - this label refer to the print being unique or containing unique elements that cannot be exactly reproduced in another pulling.)

To listen to Ann discuss the impetus of this etching, please click here. 

Etching is an intaglio process. A metal plate is covered with a wax ground. The artist then draws the image in the wax with a stylus, exposing the metal. The plate is then placed in an acid bath – the acid etches the metal where ever it is exposed. Ink is then applied and the image appears from where the ink is trapped where the artist incised.

Intaglio is a collective name for the process of printing from an image incised into a plate. In the intaglio process, the entire plate is covered with colour (usually ink) and then wiped clean however the ink remains in the incisions. The plate is then pressed against paper with great pressure and the image is printed where ever the incisions have trapped the ink.