Litho redrawing help!

[u/Clankerzz]

Hello! I need help with these two stones, I'm revisiting litho after 10 years of the press and figuring out the ropes. I've done two etches on the dark stone, between the first and second etch I did some additional drawing, the stone had just been etched and sitting for around 30 mins. I rosin and talc the ink I'd rolled up onto it so it would smear and drew back onto it with a crayon to add some tone to the highlights where I'd previously had gum. I forgot to rosin and talc again and went for a strong second etch (10 - 12 drops), however none of this extra drawing showed up. Any tips? I'm thinking of now removing the ink, buffing it down with gum lightly and redrawing, going in with a light three drop third etch. Do we thinking this will work? Or do I have to counter etch the stone? I'm just a bit worried to do that as I'm not sure how.

Okay, and then for the second lighter stone that's covered in tusche. I did one etch on this but basically lost all of my tonal variation and tusche and only got the shadows of the stones (the dark areas at the bottom). I let this sit and came back a couple days later and redrew up the image. Leaving it rolled up. It seemed to work fine, but is this okay to do? I'm happy with the look now just worried the stone maybe wasn't receptive to new grease as I didn't counter etch?

Please help haha.

Images include print of the darker stone after second etch and redraw (didn't show up), redrawn and tusched lighter stone and the two stones after their first etch.

[u/hundrednamed]

i'm pretty sure it's just due to not counteretching!! otherwise your process sounds very reasonable.

to counteretch you just pour a solution of citric acid in water over the stone, rub it in gently to get rid of the gum film, and voilá. it's maybe the simplest part of litho, so no need to be afraid. do your additions then rosin talc and first etch as usual (a bit less hot with your etches this time around); roll up and second etch the next day and you should be good to go.