Re: solarplate
Thanks Chris,
Glad to hear you're working in polymer/solar plate and PDN. I'll be
eager to hear when you've got more info on that. Thanks for the info on
printers too.
I tried making "aquatint" screens on the 2200 early on. Partly due to
Peter Elzy's advice and what I saw under a lupe, I found the screens
from an image setter were sharper and more durable. Those off the
inkjet printer didn't have the hard dot required to get a nice clean set
of dots on the plate to hold the ink. Careful handling and the
store-bought screens can last a long time.
Best wishes,
Jon
Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
The subject of solarplate came up, and as I am participating in a
collaborative printmaking project with faculty/students from several
colleges with solarplate as a basis, I thought I would add a couple
things to the discussion. The group will end up with a collaborative
portfolio, some drawing directly on the plates, some combining
photographic and drawing processes, some using the film stuff Z'Acryl
(that and Imagon I know nothing about), some not doing solarplate at all.
I am testing several methods of negatives for this process. The first
two dispense with the double exposure/aquatint screen, and are lower
tech ways of teaching solarplate to those not digitally savvy.
One is a simple bitmap--input 600/output 600, black ink only. That
works very well for detailed imagery, as it incorporates a dot pattern
into the image that ends up not being perceptible in the final image.
However, the printer you use to make your negs really determines
exposure time. For instance, the Epson 2400 blacks are not very
dense, but the Epson 3000 and Epson 2200 are. And, if there are areas
of large darks in the image, they will still open bite. Solarplate
has two major problems, open bite, and mottledness.
Second, is the Henrik Boegh method of making your image a
halftone--you first lower the tonal range of the image with a curve,
by pulling down the top right of the diagonal curve line so that input
is is 100 output is 80, then under your print with preview screen
adding a halftone screen at 65 lpm/45 angle/diamond. This works
surprisingly well, but of course you are clipping tones with the way
of handling the curve. There, too, was open bite in larger areas of
dark, so for a really dark image like, for instance, Flor Garduno
(sp?) does, it might not be the best.
Third, the most accurate and professional way of handling solarplates
but one that requires more digital savviness: I am biting the bullet
and using the aquatint screen exposure/negative exposure--doing the
double exposure technique. I know there is a way to create a
stochastic aquatint screen in computer if anyone can share it, but I
bought the thing--not cheap. So now I am working at calibrating
exposure times with the screen and then the negative, and then after I
get that proportion figured out (solarplates under UVBL are about 10
minutes total exposure and the aquatint screen can be up to 1/3 or 1/2
that) I will then calibrate a custom curve using the Precision Digital
Negatives system and colorized negs. On this one, no open bite.
I will highly recommend two books, the Heinrik Boegh Handbook of
NonToxic Intaglio and Welden's Printmaking in the Sun. Both are
must-haves. The Keith Howard books are also good, but I find myself
referring to Boegh's the most. Second, buying the plates directly
from Dan Welden is pretty darn cheap, aside from the fact he is so
nice and helpful.
Hope this helps whoever it was many emails ago who asked questions on
solarplate!
Chris
- References:
- solarplate
- From: "Christina Z. Anderson" <zphoto@montana.net>
|