Five years of total abstinence of any acid: University of Costa Rica’s School of Fine Arts Non-Toxic printmaking experience

Abstract

In the last five years, the printmaking workshop at the University of Costa Rica’s Fine Arts School has become a research laboratory, to probe any idea to eradicate the nitric acid and other harmful substances that has been used traditionally as normal in daily printmaking routine. We have introduced the use of saline etching solutions, such as saline-sulfate in etching iron, aluminum or zinc plates, and ferric chloride to erode copper plates. Furthermore, we have brought back electrolysis to etch any of the mentioned metals. Nowadays, these procedures are our every day work as the standard routine, because the nitric acid has been eradicated. Meanwhile, new alternatives, more economical and practical, are still been researched. Another cause of concern, it is the use of petroleum base solvents as a routine for cleaning everything in the printmaking workshop, and to answering that problem we suggest the use of vegetal oils or domestic cleaning products with limonene. In conclusions, the past five year period has been fruitful in our aim to eradicate any harmful substance or procedures from the printmaking workshop and, that we have been doing and continue to do efforts to divulgate the advantages of printmaking non-toxic methodologies.