What is this about?
I wish to make a scratchboard or scapeboard myself:
My Problem
Take a look at this video from David Rooney. He is an illustrator and I would like to build my own scraper board as he does. The problem is that he does not explain how to build the white background board. He says that is a chalk-covered board, but I cannot find it in any shop and I don’t know how to build it. Some websites say that they use a clay board.
My questions thus are:
- What kind of board should I should use?
- How can I find it?
What I tried so far
I found this scratchboard recipe. Basically the steps are:
- Combine 3 parts of glue, 1 part of water and 1 part of plaster.
- Apply a thin layer to the wood coat.
- Apply a thick layer going in one direction and wait about 10 minutes to dry.
- Apply another thick layer going the other way and let sit to dry completely for 4–8 hours.
- Sand down the plaster until smooth, using a medium-grit sandpaper.
- Mix together 3 parts black acrylic paint and 1 part dishsoap.
- Apply paint/soap mixture using a foam roll brush or just a foam brush. You can use black ink instead but the paint mixture seems to scrape off the easiest.
- Let dry for 8–24 hours before trying to scratch.
Note 1: You can use black ink instead but the paint mixture seems to scrape off the easiest. I think David uses oil ink (indian ink).
Note 2: I have tried with normal plaster but the color was not completely white. So next time I am going to try adding zinq oxide to the mixture. It is a white pigment to make it less transparent.