The Very Begining of Things - Ethra VanDalia Etching Plate

I have shared the first etching of Ethra VanDalia that I made in 1998 previously on the blog. My connection to this character now spans over twenty years, and it has taken this long to finally put all the pieces together to see why they have endured. While I have managed to hold onto one of the prints of the original Ethra I thought everything else of that piece was gone. That all changed recently. While cleaning out some old boxes, I came discovered the original zinc etching plate that I made in the fall of 1998 in my intro the etching class at FSU. As a side note, Bill Fisher was my professor for all of my printmaking classes and one of the few professors at FSU that did not militantly push back at my monster art. This piece went through several stages as we tried out different etching methods. The final version included aquatints and a strong acid bath for the linework. I am thrilled to have found it, and it is now in better storage where I can keep it safe. You never know where it might be needed.

Eathra Van Daillia Completes the Gems of Power
Etching on paper - Edition of 8 

11.7 x 17
© 1998 Christopher Burdett

A zinc etching plate in all its glory after sitting in storage for over twenty years.

The aquatints have held up, I wonder how it would print if I inked it up again. I imagine the surface texture would crumble in the press.

I always found the plates to be a piece of art in themselves.

A little worse for wear after all these years. This last copy is now in a safe place.

Spoiler alert?

Proof that something happened when I said it did. I stopped dating my signature about ten to eleven years after this was made.

Full circle. 1998 verses 2017.

Here are all of the monsters appearing in the first volume of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia: Aberrant Stilter, Belled Kreep, Corrupted Knight, Dight-Kin, Eau-de-nil Elder, Ethra VanDalia, Footman, Gray Wanderer, Gullet, Humgruffin Mother, Irritated Girasol, Judicator, Kiplorbic Animal Dealer, Lammergeier Transport, Myopic Riflemen, Nimsbane Curse Victim, Ophiomornous Bureaucrat, Petrous Blacksmith, Quincaillerie, Rapacious Guttersnipe, Saint Marque, Smokestack, Thrice, Uncanny Scribe, Virulent Artificer, Woven Egg, Woven Shaper, Xandrell Tree, Yote Arms Dealer, and Zombic Spore.

Here are all of the environmental pieces appearing in the first volume of The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia: Air Shops, Busy Streets, Hollow Alley, Keeper of the Clocks, Sunken Stalls, The Grand Bazaar, The Seated Dead, 

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com