My Aim
To create a scratchboard of a gorgeous little baby from a photo taken the day she was born.

Because of the fairness of the newborn baby’s skin and blankets, I wanted to start with a warmer hue and a lighter tone than black ink.

I chose a watercolour graphite as:

• It has large particles which should sit on the surface of the Kaolin clay.
• It has the tonal colours I wanted when scratched - the dark for shadows, a warm flesh colour for mid tones, whites for highlights.
• Easy to show mark making with stippling or short lines.
• Could easily add further layers between scratching - as unlike ink the water-soluble can be reworked in the pan after drying.
• It doesn’t rub off the way graphite applied dry does.

And most importantly:

• Experimenting - the fun of a challenge.

Process

• I brushed water soluble graphite from an Art Graf block onto a 4.75” x 3” Claybord - 3 layers, drying in between.
• Used transfer paper to transfer the image onto the board.
• Used only a scalpel- short strokes, almost stippling, to work sections while keeping smoothness and showing form.
• Reworked the image several times building form and contrasts, shadows to highlights, touching up with a bit more graphite.

How did it go?

• The watersoluble graphite stayed on the surface. The colour didn’t soak through the white clay.
• Smooth surface to scratch - great.
• Gave the variation in tone I wanted - lovely for skin colour - great.
• With the point of a paintbrush I could dab a touch of colour back onto any spot which had become too light - Oops! Don’t tell anyone.
  

Photos
(preparing the board, 1st layer of scratching, final)

A short time after I started scratchboard, while trying to render a smooth wallaby nose, I found that the tool I was using frustratingly caused a shine on the black ink surface and few scratches. I was using a 9RS tattoo needle. It had been perfect earlier but was gradually becoming more difficult to use, burnishing the surface instead of gently scraping the ink.

What’s happening?

The ink layers sprayed onto Ampersand Scratchbords have a nap, just as on non-shiny walls in a house or a piece of cloth. The nap diffuses light giving a matte effect, not a shine. Squash those particles down and light is reflected differently. You can see the difference easily if you burnish a part of a scratchboard surface with a polished stone. Best not to try it at home - on your painted wall.

The same result can happen if you scratch the scratchboard surface -
1. With a blunt tool, or
2. With your tool at too low an angle, or
3. During a heatwave.

1. Blunt tool. To sharpen the edges of a round shader tattoo needle. Hold it close to the ends of the prongs and vertically over a sharpening stone or sandpaper, moving it back and forth.
To sharpen the point of a craft knife, sweep the bevelled edge across a sharpening stone, towards the point. It’s just the point which will be worn but it’s worth keeping the blade straight.
For an eyebrow tattoo needle it’s much the same, out towards the points works.

2. Tool angle. Aim for the optimum scraping angles. Try with a tattoo needle, a craft knife or scalpel. Its end should be slightly higher. Try until you get the right feel. for a blade, rotate it, too, so that it scrapes instead of slices, in the direction your hand is comfortably moving. (Unless you are wanting cut lines.)

3. Temperature. If the temperature is too high - the surface softens. This happened to me once while living for a short time in a country unused to extremely high temperatures. Wait. Patience.

I tried scratching a surface I had purposefully burnished with a polished stone. It was much more difficult to get the mark making I wanted. What happened to the wallaby nose I burnished with a blunt 9RS needle? It was difficult to scratch over those areas. But with more time I managed. I now protect the surface continually, especially its nap.

Finally - A good thing. Once your scratchboard is finished and sprayed with a fixative any shine from tools or hands disappears (fingers crossed).