U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: wiping KM73 polymer plates

Re: wiping KM73 polymer plates

Hi all,
I find solarplate prints pretty close to a BW print...detail is not the issue with solarplate once you curve it correctly. The biggest problem is those dam mottles. But if in fact you all are right that Printight is more detailed, I may just have to buy some.

One thing I notice, having printed (limited) other types of processes, solarplate requires quite a bit of wiping. I have been using etching ink which works fine for me, but what I find about solarplate at least is that you have to use the tarlatan very well and then finish off with telephone book pages, wiping the plate to the point that you think you are wiping all the detail out. In other words, the plate should look like all ink is off the highlights of the image when, in fact, they still print! I don't know why this is the case that the ink is not visible on the surface but still prints. I may use a total of 4 telephone book pages wiping the plate clean, with a flat hand.

I read that the plate hardens from bottom up--that a flash exposure of 3-5 secs will harden the goo at the steel plate level and then you expose your neg. I find this fascinating after all the discussion on this list about top down hardening of gum. I have no idea what the hardening agent is in solarplate (any guesses? Diazo?).

Mind you, I have been working on solarplate all week to perfect my curve after a major glitch related to positive/negative issues, so I am solarplated OUT at the moment...
Chris
----- Original Message ----- From: "taylordow" <taylordow@sprintmail.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: wiping KM73 polymer plates


Nancy,

I use Daniel Smith's Miracle Gel Reducer http://www.danielsmith.com/ catalog/products/?T1=284+900+001&UID=2007020715152611 which sounds similar to Graphic's Chemical Gel. Using this and wiping initially with tarlatans and then finishing by hand, you can get some incredible detail.
Someone mentioned in an earlier post that they found the Solarplates didn't resolve the fine detail as well as the Printight plates. This was exactly the reason I changed. Not that there's anything wrong with the Solarplates, just they weren't suitable for my work.

Keith.

On Feb 7, 2007, at 5:09 PM, Nancy Diessner wrote:

The ink I use for these plates has been a mixture of equal parts Graphic Chemical Bone Black, Stiff Black, and Transparent Base. I've now started adding a bit of Graphic Chemical Gel (nontoxic) that makes the ink more gooey and brings out more subtle tonal variations in the plate. For some images I've made it so gooey I've had to almost pour it on the plate (for plates I've heavily altered by hand). It's made a big difference for me.