Sonia Rollo Art Prints  


Sonia Rollo  was educated at Glasgow University, graduating with a B.Sc. in agricultural botany. She worked in scientific publishing as editor of Chemoreception Abstracts.

Sonia Rollo studied printmaking at Morley College,  is a founder member of Half Moon Printmakers, a member of the cooperatives Southbank Printmakers and Greenwich Printmakers, and a past vice-chair of the Printmakers' Council.

Sonia Rollo’s interest in animals started in childhood with a pig called Hilary, geese called Charlie and Cassandra, and a mongrel, Pearl.

Training as a biologist included observing and drawing plants and animals to aid understanding.
  
Technique
Sonia Rollo creates her animal etchings by first drawing the outline of the animal.  Using a zinc metal plate covered with a fine dusting of rosin, which has been melted on.   Areas, which are to remain white, are painted over with varnish.  The plate is immersed in a bath of nitric acid to bite between the blobs of rosin.  This makes the aquatint.  The plate is then cleaned.

Next the plate is covered with a layer of soft wax, drawing into the wax using a needle, a wire brush or often a pan scrub, to give the texture of fur or feather.  The plate goes back into the nitric acid to bite the lines.

Each print is made by covering the plate with ink, then wiping off the surplus ink with muslin.  The inked plate is put on a hand-operated press and covered with damp paper.  The print comes cold and wet of the press