Re: First try gravure
Christina... I feel your pain. This process yields such a beautiful
result when all goes well, that it must be incredibly frustrating to
have those blotches you mention in an otherwise nice image. As for
the vacuum frame... I paid "only" $311 for my entire Nuarc unit, and I
felt like even if the light part of it didn't work, I could salvage
the vacuum bed of it and still be ahead of the game money-wise. Mine
was covered in dust and hadn't been used in a long time... Did you
read my post about the guy who called area printshops asking if they
had a NuArc they wanted to sell? I *think* he ended up only paying
$100 to a lady who was thrilled to get it out of her way, and that was
one of two he found in just a few calls. You might consider it, for
the vacuum if nothing else...
As to printers... I have a 1280, so I'm sure with some testing, and
studying I can get a good result from it. My OHP arrives wednesday
:o)
susan
www.dalyvoss.com
On 2/6/07, Christina Z. Anderson <zphoto@montana.net> wrote:
Susan,
Depending on your printer, the cheapy transparencies will or will not work.
I used to be able to use cheapy stuff with the 2200 black ink only. Not
color. Then with the 2400 I just bit the bullet and went with Pictorico.com
OHP. It holds ink, dries right away, usable in an hour. That way I don't
muck up my printer. It depends on what printer and also what settings you
are printing out with, but the ones that use more ink to print out with just
use too much ink to not smear on the transparency material.
In ref to other stuff on solarplate you all have been saying, I might just
have to try that Toyobo stuff...but I do clean with mineral spirits and then
keep the plate oiled with baby oil. I think mineral oil (in baby oil) is
thinner and less sticky in the long run, tho I am not sure why it is so
chemically.
Still my biggest plague is mottling in the darks--areas of the deepest
blacks having areas of greater exposure, due to, from what I can tell,
uneven contact with the transparency. It is so frustrating when you do all
this work and have that one problem. I am so close to buying a vacuum
frame...
Chris
www.dalyvoss.com