U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: solarplate images up on my website

Re: solarplate images up on my website



On 2/20/07, Jon Lybrook <jon@terabear.com> wrote:
Measles...good analogy.
Notice the difference though.  Chris' measles are dark in the light
areas, while Susan's are white in the dark areas.
My .02 cents/sense is the causes are related, but are manifested for
different reasons.  I've suffered through both of them.  Both have to do
with uneven contact during exposure, as you may have guessed.
I would have to agree with the uneven contact. I get measles both in light and dark areas. In fact, a test strip I exposed that had a slight lip on one edge has white creeping into that side of the darks. The measles aren't always round and regular as in the images I showed, but patchy. One test strip I did that had a severe lip on it had a ribbon effect of white area leaking through regularly.

I do use baby powder as Susan does--on the plate before the aquatint and then I don't redust before the OHP exposure. So it looks like I should try two things: dust after the aquatint screen and also expose a plate outdoors to OHP and see if the light does make a difference.

BTW a lot of those solarplates on my website were done with bitmapped images on Photowarehouse OHP, that really thin stuff, back when I had the 2200 printer and could print black ink only on it and it would stick. Measles are apparent in the devil one, though, too. I can't use that stuff successfully on the 2400 so I am Pictorico all the way, and without a vacuum frame, maybe it is impossible to use?

Susan, thanks for posting your stuff on the blog--it is very easy to view, etc. I see the birch image (or aspens?) is very successful which leads me to believe that the real benefit to solarplate comes when using busy detailed imagery (e.g. the orchids on my page).
Chris