They really do want you to look at their etchings.

Since it opened in October, the Old Inlet Printmaking Studio has been home to a small group of artists in the basement of the Old Inlet Trading Post below the Bunnell Street Gallery. Every First Friday, the studio opens its doors for people to meet the artists, learn about fine art printmaking and sign up to use the studio.

The studio came about after several students in a printmaking class taught last spring by Sara Tabbert decided they wanted to keep exploring the art. Tabbert, a University of Alaska Fairbanks art professor, taught a class at Kachemak Bay Campus in the monoprint, intaglio, collagraph and linocut methods of printmaking.

There’s just one problem with printmaking: you need a press and lots of work space.

“It’s exciting that you want to continue to do it, but it’s so messy that you don’t want to do it in your own house,” said Kathi Drew.

Drew is the treasurer of the studio — one of “the main group stubborn enough to stick with it and pull it together,” as she calls the core group of four artists.

When artist Gaye Wolfe had an etching press for sale and the space in the Old Inlet Trading Post became available for rent, everything fell into place. The etching press can make prints from etched metal plates, stone plates, carved linoleum or wood blocks, Plexiglas or mat board.

The Old Inlet Printmaking Studio also has borrowed a four-color silkscreen press from Kammi Matson that she found at The Salvation Army. The handmade press is built on a short aluminum ladder and is mainly designed to print T-shirts.

No matter the form of printmaking, each method does the same thing: puts ink on paper or fabric. How it does that is the art and the craft. Etchings have a shallow, recessed design cut in the plate. Ink is rolled into shallow depressions in the plate, and then wiped clean on the nonprint surface — what is called an intaglio print.

Block prints use the relief method, where the artist carves away what won’t be printed, either in wood or linoleum. Ink is rolled on the material left behind. The relief method also can be used on stone or other media.

A collagraph print combines the intaglio and relief methods. Ink can be placed in the depression as well as on top. A collage also can be made by adding feathers, string or other materials to the ink on the etching surface.

Silk-screening pushes ink through openings in fabric — originally silk, but also synthetics. The negative design is painted directly on the screen, but also can be made with a photographic process.

Although printmaking usually makes multiple copies, in the monoprint technique the artist paints directly on Plexiglas and makes one print.

For metal plates, acid makes the design, but at the Old Inlet Printmaking Studio, a less toxic method is used: carving or etching into modeling paste laid out on a mat board.

“It’s basically creating a very subtle, high-low texture, so even though it’s less than 1/8 inch deep, you’re making a texture using a mat board and no acid,” said Laurel Epps, secretary of the workshop.

Epps, who has degrees in graphic design, learned her art years ago when materials were less safe to work with. Epps plans on taking a class next year called “Safe Etch” to learn about better ways to make etchings.

“What I’m excited about is being able to do what I did in the past without using this toxic crap,” she said.

Epps said she and the other artists aren’t as familiar with silk-screening, and look forward to learning from other artists. That’s part of the goal of the studio: offering space for workshops. The studio could sponsor a workshop, or other art groups wanting to use the facility could rent the studio for a day or weekend.

“We’d love to be contacted if anybody is interested in teaching a course,” Epps said.

Artists can sign up to use the studio for $40 a day, $150 for a month, $405 for three months or $600 for six months. There is also a one-time $35 fee for an orientation class by one of the core artists. Studio space for painters is available on a limited basis, Epps said. The studio also can be rented for workshops like bookmaking.

For information, contact Epps at 235-7004, e-mail pathfinder@acsalaska.net or visit the studio every First Friday.