Carborundum Grit (SiC) is an economical form of silicon carbide (SiC), created by grinding black SiC into finer particles. This material offers excellent thermal shock resistance as well as reduced linear thermal expansion compared to fused alumina.
Carborundum grit can be used in printmaking as an intaglio technique that provides strong colours and tones without using acid or rosin, while creating non slip surfaces when mixed with polyester and epoxy resins.
Graining Lithographic Stones
Carborundum grit helps ensure lithographic stones have smooth and level surfaces. A standard pattern involves grinding with a levigator in three grades of grit: coarse, medium and fine – this helps ensure all areas of the stone receive equal amounts of abrasive and prevents longer grinding spots from becoming uneven and wavey.
Graining of the stone is a critical element in creating an image, as an incorrect application of fine grit may produce an uneven surface that makes printing challenging, producing lines in printed images that require additional efforts to smooth.
Once a stone is ground down into dust, it must be thoroughly washed with clean water before being sponged dry with sponge. This step, known as processing, allows chemical separation between areas that attract printing ink and those which don’t, so that eventually, your drawing can hold ink consistently over its entire surface area.
Based on the complexity of an image, additional stone etching may be required in order to further stabilize and adjust tonal values of its features. Furthermore, an artist could even print a lithograph from their initial etching.
Collagraph Printmaking
Collagraph printing requires artists to affix objects onto a rigid base before applying artistic mediums and printing. The resultant prints usually exhibit three-dimensionality. Affixed materials range from string, hand-cut metal pieces or carborundum grit, which create textures and depressions on the plate that capture ink when printed, enabling artists to create distinctive patterns or designs.
Carborundum grit can be mixed into acrylic medium and painted onto PETG plastic plates as illustrated in this video tutorial by printmaker Joyce Silverstone. The grit holds ink similarly to traditional intaglio plates while producing similar tonal range without needing acids or rosin.
Before applying grit to their plates, artists must first coat it in a thin layer of a water-based glue or gel. This ensures that carborundum powder adheres securely enough for printing press pressure; its thickness also determines mark sizes available and overall aesthetic of their plate.
Once the grit has been attached, artists can add any other materials they desire to their plate and ink and dry the plate before starting printing! When printing begins, artists must take care not to overprint as that will remove all grooves and indentations in their plate and ruin its aesthetic qualities.
Aquatint Printmaking
At the center of many printmakers’ minds lies the desire to achieve dense black in etching or aquatint printing. Techniques used include lung-damaging resin that melts on to plates or carborundum grit that’s difficult to ink, while sugar aquatint produces stunning effects but may take more time and stability than anticipated to work with.
Aquatinting first made its mark as an artform during the 1700s, when it quickly became the go-to method of producing toned prints. An aquatint begins by coating a metal plate (typically copper or zinc) with powdered resin, before heating until the resin melts to create an uneven speckled surface that holds ink when printed – then an image’s etched outline can be printed over it.
Carborundum grit intaglio printing technique offers an artistic solution for creating tonal variation without using acid, rosin or toxic chemicals of traditional mezzo tint and sugar aquatint techniques. By mixing carborundum grit with strong glue it can be painted directly onto copper, aluminium or Perspex plates and dried and inked like any other intaglio printmaking method – with increasing amounts of grit contributing to darker tonality of prints created.
Painting
Carborundum grit (Silicon carbide) is a hard black powder which, when mixed with polyester or epoxy resins, creates an extremely hardwearing non slip surface. It is commonly used as grip tape on skateboards. Furthermore, anti-slip coating for hangars and trailers as well as milking parlour floors use it too for non slip surfaces. Furthermore, fine powder can be ground down into finer pieces that can then be added to paint to produce dark, opaque surfaces with grit-textured textures – inexpensively purchased at Hawthorn printmakers; graded sizes exist as fine, medium and coarse dust can irritate both lungs and eyes when using fine dust – it should only be used indoors where ventilation exists for optimal use!
Henri Goetz, an abstract painter and fine printmaker, first introduced carborundum printing as a printing technique in the 1930s. This involved adhering carborundum grit onto aluminium plates before inking them using intaglio techniques; when inked up using the intaglio process, gritty areas held onto ink for vivid prints with vibrant colors and tones.
Today we have more options for adhering carborundum to plates than ever before, such as water-based acrylic adhesives. In this instance, Jackson’s Transparent Printing Plate was used with diluted waterproof PVA/wood glue used as binder and thick paste of glue and fine carborundum were brushed onto it using a brush before leaving to dry overnight. When printed it shows that many crevices were filled by filler particles from fine carborundum which created much deeper tones than previous examples using undiluted PVA.
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