Print making

These are the first results from the print making sessions. Obviously they are not the results I am after. It was good to see the printed version of these plates as it gives me an indication on how to continue. I cannot use the vaporjet plates as they have been discontinued. This first test of the Solar Plate was not exposed to an aquatint screen, this is a necessary step that allows the darker tones to be edged in the developing process. As a consequence of not using it,  the black areas were peeled off the plate.  Also the chemicals of the plate were not allowing it to dry properly, they were still sticky after a week. A very sticky plate means it wasn’t exposed long enough but I have been told that this plates were actually faulty. Another thing is that the positive I used was of 45 lpi. and I have found out that the plates can handle a much finer resolution. I’ll use a different positive with my next batch of prints.

Anyway…these are the prints:

Vaporjet Print

Solar Plate Print

I intend to use Somerset Satin paper, which is artist mould paper made using 100% cotton by St Cuthberts Mill, in the southwest of England. This mill has been making paper since the 1700′s and specialises in making high quality artist papers that are mould made using a traditional cylinder mould machine (from 1907). This gives the sheet of paper excellent surface stability and superior strength. The sheets are buffered with calcium carbonate to help defend the finished piece of work from discolouration caused by the acids present in pollution.

Photo Intaglio – Print Making

After looking at the Bechers and Polidori and their approach to documenting. I am considering making a typography print with my photographs. The typography will consist of a series of different valves in machinery from the 19th century arranged in a grid shape. The images will be digital and will go through the process of HDR (merging 3 exposures with Photomatix) and then synthesis (combining 2 exposures in Photoshop).

This is an example of the Becher’s typology:

Once the images are ready, I will digitally produce and print a positive – film positive paper -  in order to use it in the process of Photo Intaglio.

Photo intaglio goes back to the origins of photography. In the 1820′s, Niepce invented a photomechanical process using sensitized pewter plate. He called the images produced from these plates heliographs. Daguerre and Fox Talbot made their own contributions a few years later, and photogravure (a form of photo intaglio) became a commercial process for reproduction in the late nineteenth century. Emerson, Stieglitz and many others made editions of their work using this process. Nowadays photogravure has been replaced by more modern processes as the chemicals used were very toxic. The form of Photo Intaglio I am going to research will be Photo-etching with two different methods: Aquatint for zinc vaporjet plates and Solar plates which have a light sensitive polymer on a steel backing that is developed and etched with water.

The aim of this process is to take the image of a referent from the time of the industrial revolution trough the sophisticated procedures of digital photo imaging and bring it to the traditional and laboured process of manual print making.

Zinc Vaporjet Plates

The process I followed:

1. Exposure:

1. Film Positive face up on the glass
2. Plate face down- make sure not to touch the surface
3. Vacuum lid on, clamp it and turn on
4. Expose to UV light for 30 light units
5. Remove and develop – MX developer – for about 30 seconds
6. Dry and expose again (without the film positive) for another 30 light units in order to fix the image

2. De-scum on the sink by pouring the liquid over the plate and rubbing with cotton

3. Edging : 1:20 Nitric Acid for zinc fine line. The chemical bites the plate and it needed to  be rubbed with cotton again.

4. Dry

5. Aquatint:

1. Insert the plate in the machine with the resin dust from 5 to 8 minutes
2. Melt the resin to form a fine and even coat, making sure not too heat the plate too much and that the flames don’t go over the edge of the plate
3. Dip the plate back into the Nitric Acid and rub with cotton for about 2 minutes
4. Take it out and use methylated spirit to get the acid off
5. Dry

6. Bevel the edges of the plate with a metal file – about 2mm bevel

7. Inking:

1. Clean the inking area with methylated spirit
2. Get ink – 55985 has a high contrast hard edge black, 71303 is a warm black, F66 is  a soft black. Spread the ink thin on the table with a roller
3. Ink the plate
4. Blotch with newsprint and when the layer of ink is thinner rub with tissue paper

8. Printing:

1. Sommerset paper has a printing side, it is the one where you can read the watermark. For wet printing soak printing side down for 10 minutes. Always keep the paper in the same position to remember what side is the printing one.
2. Take out and take water excess off by putting in between the cards and pressing with rubber roller.
3. On the print press put some tissue paper down or acrylic sheet with marks. Lay the inked vaporjet plate on it and put the printing paper on top. Cover with tissue paper and blankets and feed through the press.
4. Dry print by putting it between tissue paper and insert in blotting paper.
5. Clean plate with methylated spirit

Solar Plates – Toyobo Polymer Print Plates

Process I followed so far:

1. Exposure:

1. Film Positive face up on the glass
2. Plate face down- make sure not to touch the surface
3. Vacuum lid on, clamp it and turn on
4. Expose to UV light for 30 light units
5. Remove and wash in warm water, sponge rub at the same time and change the water as it gets dirty
6. Dry

This has been my first attempt to work with this techniques. The vaporjet plate was a nice process  but the result was a little dotty plus I had some problem with the plate getting more ink than it should and printing black blobs all over. The solar plate might give me a smoother result. Also, the film positive I used (45lpi-round-27.5∘) hasn’t given me the result I expected on the aquatint process. I have been recommended to have a positive with a higher number of lpi (lines per inch) and instead of round pattern have an stochastic pattern (=random pattern). I have yet to print the solar plate although I have certain reservations about the result as quite a few parts of the plate have no texture. I have read that the plate should be exposed for a second time to UV light with an aquatint screen to retain the grain…that step was excluded. I don’t really know the right answers yet but once I print this second plate I will asses the result and seek advice from the technicians to see what is my next step.