The Young Moon was the culmination of a series of experiments using poured varnish and carborundum powder. By this time, I had discovered that interesting textures could be made by pouring varnish onto a birch plywood plate and sprinkling the liquid with carborundum powder. However, the real surprise here was how the mixture reacted to heat. I had tried to speed up the drying process by using a hairdryer. The surface blistered and peeled away forming dark pools out of the carborundum powder that looked and reacted like lava. These printed beautifully with dark earthy tones and a high degree of contrast. The interesting thing about the plates is that the medium cannot be entirely controlled, so that each plate and resulting print can never be replicated.
