July 22 – August 3, 2025, 9 AM-4 PM instruction, 4-7 PM open studio

with Liz Chalfin

Affectionately referred to by past participants as Etching Boot Camp, this 13-day intensive workshop is a fantastic opportunity to learn everything you need to know to set up and maintain a safe etching practice.  We’ll do a deep dive into studio set up and use (press calibration, mordant mixing and testing, blanket cleaning), and safer etching methods including etching with BIG ground, soy wax ground, acrylic airbrush aquatint and more.

You’ll leave the workshop with a 90 page instructional manual, a folder full of test plates and prints and the knowledge to expand your practice for years to come.

Limited to four participants and taught by studio founder and director, Liz Chalfin who has over forty years of etching experience under her belt.

What will you learn in the program?

Set up and maintenance of safe intaglio studio including:

• how to calibrate, lubricate and maintain an etching press
• etching bath testing and maintenance and proper disposal of spent mordants
• health and safety, proper ppe and ventilation systems
• tool sharpening and care
• etching blanket care and cleaning
• Etching on copper in ferric chloride including:
• BIG (Baldwin Intaglio Ground) for soft ground, lift grounds, white grounds, texture transferring and alternative aquatints
• Acrylic Airbrush Aquatints including tray, vertical tank and spit bite etching
• Etching on copper with Soy Wax soft ground
• Etching on aluminum and zinc in copper sulfate saline
• Non-darkroom photo etching
• Ink modifications and practices for different plate work (line, texture, tone)
• Etching on aluminum and zinc in copper sulfate/saline

Who is it for?

• Educators
• Shop Technicians
• Independent artist/printmakers

What will the Certificate Prepare you for?

• Setting up your own safer etching studio – personal or public
• Converting a traditional print studio to a safer one – school, community center, home studio
• Teach safer etching techniques: hard and soft ground, aquatint, lift grounds, photo etching and more.

Workshop format

The day begins at 9 AM with technical demonstrations followed by time for participants to make plates utilizing techniques demonstrated.  A second demo may happen after lunch.  Formal instruction ends at 4 PM.

The studio will be open from 4-7 PM with a monitor present so students can continue to work independently.

Accommodations

We have a 2-bedroom apartment at Zea Mays Printmaking which we will rent to 2 participants in the program @ $900 per person – Spaces currently sold out

We also have connections with a couple of local folks who gladly rent rooms in their homes to our visiting artists.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in any of these accommodation options, as they fill quickly.

There are also Air BnB offerings in the area.

Registration is $2750, includes materials – early registration discount $2500 if registered by May 24, 2025. Space can be reserved with a $500 deposit. Contact kaye@zeamaysprintmaking.com to discuss payment plan options.

About the Instructor

Liz Chalfin is founder and director of Zea Mays Printmaking and the studio’s resident artist. Liz has been involved in printmaking for the past 40 years. She teaches workshops at Zea Mays Printmaking, supervises the research at the studio and takes the message and methods of safer printmaking on the road to schools and studios around the world through lectures, demonstrations and workshops. Her prints and artist’s books are exhibited internationally and are in numerous public and private collections including the New York Public Library, Smith College Museum of Art, The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, The Hood Museum, The Boston Public Library, The Portland Museum of Art, Bowdoin College Art Museum, Museo Internacional de Gravura, Alijo, Portugal, San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana.

This workshop is currently full. Fill out the form below to be placed on the waiting list.