A New Engraving Technique by Means of Explosives

Leonardo,Vol. 12, pp. 222-223. Pergamon Press Ltd. 1979. Printed in Great Britain. A NEW ENGRAVING TECHNIQUE BY MEANS OF EXPLOSIVES Verner Molin 1. I am an artist interested in portraiture, and, like others, I have wondered how can one really depict a human being. In making a portrait, one must capture more than what one can observe of a subject in a relatively short time. The ‘inner’and ‘outer’life of a person combine to continually change a person’s appearance. An ordinary photograph can provide only a momentary glimpse of a complex personality. With patience and toil in the spirit of devotion, a portraitist, whose hand responds to eye and brain, can do better. Momentary expressions of joy or unhappiness must be taken into account. I have been told that it would be easier to paint flowers, which do not present one with fleeting moods, but I seek ways to portray beauty in humans and in the human spirit. I shall describe below my art technique that I call explosive engraving. I have found it a sensitive and effective way to meet my objectives as a portraitist. It is appropriate to mention initially some earlier experiencesthat are pertinent to the technique I devised. I can go all the way back to the age of six when I used to travel on the limestone shuttle train from the quarry near our farm in Kullsberg, Rattvik, Dalarna, Sweden.It was then that I saw occasionally imprints of leaves on the broken rock. Of course I did not realize until much later the-significance of what I saw. 2. In the year 1966I went to the iron ore mine in Kiruna, Sweden, on an art scholarship. On one occasion when I was painting in the mine, I noted that I had forgotten to bring black paint in my kit. I tried mixinginto my tempera paint black iron ore dust that was on the ground. I was pleased with the results, and I feltencouraged tocontinue. Later, I made a large tile mural at Hagsatra College in Stockholm; in the glaze of the tiles I incorporated some ore dust. The addition of the high density dust had to be done quickly with agitation to avoid its settling out. I call my mural ‘The Forces of the Earth’. One of the mining engineers, Bo Hall, told me that he could demonstrate how a tender leafcan be used to make an imprint in a hard metal surface by means of explosives. Iwasinterested inthis,becauseIrememberedimmediately my childhood observations. I met him to witness a demonstration at the Nitro Nobel’s Detonic Laboratory at Vinterviken, Stockholm, the site of Alfred Nobel’s early work with nitroglycerine. After seeincg how a leaf imprint can be made on a sheet of copper, I became curious to know what would happen if, instead of a leaf between a layer of explosiveand the copper, there was an *Artist, Gumshornsgatan6 (111), 11460Stockholm, Sweden. (Received 3 Dec. 1977) 222 ordinary sheet of paper with two linesof black ink drawn on it. I wanted to see if the lines also would cause an imprint in the copper. I decidedto find out immediately.I used both a leaf and the sheet of paper with the lines as resistances between the explosive and the metal and conducted a second test to compare the effect. (In spite of predictions to the contrary made by some of the onlooking experts, the paper did not burn.) To my satisfaction the drawn lines and the veins of the leaf were engraved in the copper surface.This was the beginningof a period when sleep had to yield to my need to work. A new world of possibilities suddenly opened up for me. I realized that there was a possibility of developing a new engraving method: explosive engraving. The first copper engraving plate I made by this technique was a portrait of Alfred Nobel, originally intended as a letterhead. Soon I was brought into a world of research and experimentation where Icame upon a way to produce most delicate qualities in texture. It involves the use of different resistances that are applied to the plate. Instead of the veins of leaves...