Re: Photopolymer Plate Options
On Feb 17, 2007, at 8:25 AM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote: Second, I went back over my Dan Welden's book, which I love, and he says a very interesting point in there which I would love to see if you all, too, have found this in practice. I think this applies to II Test and/or Expose the Plate on Jon's website: (p. 87-88, long) " In general, with the double exposure technique the best results are obtained by using equal times for both exposures, but you can manipulate the relative times of each exposure to influence the final impression. If you increase the exposure time of the screen relative to the positive, say 2 min 15 sec for the screen and 1mn15sec for the transparency, lighter tones are strengthened, while some darker tones will become darker. The overall effect is to darken the image and is a useful approach for very light transparencies....Yu can also do the converse and decrease the time of the screen relative to the positive, say, 30 seconds for the screen and 1mn30sec for the transparency. With this type of exposure you may gain a better range of midtones, but lose some lighter tones. The overall effect is to lighten an image. Deep grooves and areas of open bite can form, and, by fine tuning the relative times of each exposure, you can control the extent of open bite."Chris, I played around with this for a while, but (with my setup) I found the best results nearly always came from equal exposures. If I ever master this, and bromoil, then I will have "arrived". At least with gum it is only a wasted piece of paper and no trips to town to use a press.Personally, I think can be one of the most frustrating processes I've ever worked with, but the results are so worth it. When things go wrong and don't work out I can sink to depths unimaginable, yet when I pull a great print, the feeling is like no other. "Everyone must fight his or her own personal battle with the polymer plate. The material seems to have a strong will of it's own, which it imposes on the work whether the artist wants it or not." - Taneli Eskola. Keith.
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