Michelle Purchase – Thursday Night Guest – January 22, 2026

(Submitted by Sheri Etherington)

WEBSITE: www.michellepurchase.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/michelle_purchase_studio
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/MichellePurchaseStudio
Studio: Globe Studios. 141 Whitney Place, Studio #14, Kitchener, Ontario, CANADA
Contact: michelle.purchase@gmail.com
Check her website, Instagram and Facebook to view various examples of her work.

Michelle provided a wonderfully comprehensive presentation to our club on various printmaking techniques. Wow!! Such a wealth of information so generously shared. Thank you Michelle!

Michelle teaches many different printmaking methods. She started with monotypes, then etching including photo etching, chine colle, block prints, collographs, mokuhanga, intaglio, sugar or coffee lifts, dry point, aquatint, mezzoprint, screen printing, stencils/pochoir, lithography, frottage (rubbings) etc…

Michelle enjoys printmaking as it is communal, physical, experimental, scientific, less predictable, often enables multiples of the same image to be made which can be sold, and has a rich history. She has a mostly solvent free studio and is able to clean the inks mostly with vegetable oil and soap.

A few notes that might be of interest:-

1 – Use Japanese washi paper to add colour – put it in a tray with water & add either wallpaper paste or rice paste (Yamato) which provides a thin layer of glue – then layer it with the printmaking paper in the press. The printmaking paper needs to be a heavy 100% cotton rag. One recommended paper is

Rives BFK. Another is Saint-Armand from Montreal. There are others as well.

2 – The printmaking paper must be soaked at least 5 minutes and after printing on it placed between two surfaces so it dries flat

3 – Mokuhanga is Japanese woodblock printing. Michelle finds it very portable/easy to take on the road

4 – Collographs – the material added should not be thicker than a penny. Seal it with 3 coats of matte medium.

5 – Intaglio – the ink sits in the grooves. Etching – the ink makes a softer u shape. Drypoint – creates a bur which makes a very soft line.

6. – Michelle likes using Charbonnel Intaglio ink

7 – Etching – you can etch any white metal (zinc, steel, aluminum). If the plate is not coated, put contact paper on the back. For the acid, you can use copper sulphate (garden fertilizer) plus salt, diluted. For etching copper, use ferric chloride (see you tube for recipes). The ground can be asphaltum or her preferred ground is B.I.G. etching ground. Roll it on and then it takes 1-2 days so harden or use a toaster oven for 3-6 minutes.

Key Details About B.I.G. Ground:

– Developer: Andrew Baldwin at Trefeglwys Print Studios, Powys.

– Usage: It is applied with a roller in a thin layer and cured, usually by baking in an oven.

– Versatility: Supports soft/hard ground, photo etching, marbling, and coffee lift.

– Advantages: It is non-toxic, does not dry out on the shelf, and allows for both fine line etching and strong aquatints.

– Availability: Widely available through UK art suppliers like Jackson’s Art Supplies and Lawrence Art Supplies.

The ground is designed to be user-friendly, allowing artists to draw directly on the surface and achieve a high-quality finish without using harsh, traditional solvents

8 – Photoetch Plates – Instead of using ground, put a thin sheet of UV sensitive film on the plate.Then put the photo on the plate. Expose it in sunlight or using a yellow, or red light.

Michelle also enjoys creating large installations using willow weaving with living willow. This involves a community effort of volunteers.