Re: solarplate images up on my website

[SusanV <susanvoss3@gmail.com>]

Hi Jon and Chris and all,

Update regarding measles:

Today I was exposing an 8x8" plate (image exposure), and very clearly
saw the leprosy you describe during drawdown.  I had dusted the plate
with powder but if that helped it didn't do enough.

I removed the plate and positive from the vacuum bed, and tried
dusting powder on the emulsion side of the positive.  It was harder to
brush off and was leaving streaks, so I used a new microfiber cloth I
use in the darkroom, which worked well.  BUT... the leprosy happened
again.

My vacuum bed has a typical bumpy surface, but I have a smooth white
sheet of plastic over the center area.  I noticed that the plastic
lifted up against the glass all around the plate and positive during
drawdown, and realized that using the plastic possibly circumvents the
design of the pebbled surface, which must be to allow air to flow
through all those little channels between the bumps.  So, I removed
the plastic and tried again.  Initially got the same result, but then
let the drawdown continue for a minute or so, and it did seem to
improve.

By the way... I tried different drawdown times, and the spots got
smaller with longer times.

I eventually just let it draw down a couple of minutes, then made my
exposure, even though I could still see some spots.  I've pulled 2
plates, and used paper that had soaked overnight, but still got some
small measles.  The splotches are small and fairly regular and evenly
distributed, and mostly in the mid-tones.  I'll scan it in the morning
after it dries and post it to my blog.

I'm still using the glass on my Nuarc... maybe tomorrow I'll build the
frame for the krene plastic and switch to that.  I was just impatient
today and wanted to print.

Susan


On 2/20/07, Jon Lybrook <jon@terabear.com> wrote:

"Susan:  If you want to test this, take a virgin KM73 plate with the
mylar removed, and a virgin piece of OHP (without an image printed on
it), sandwich them under the vacuum frame and hit the switch on the
vacuum.   I'll bet you see a similar, but subtle pattern of patches
manifesting like leprosy within the first minute of drawdown.  The
aquatint screen, unlike your image transparency, is made of real film
and doesn't have this issue, but the OHP is tackier against the KM73
plate and this is the problem.  The remedy for me has been baby powder,
very lightly dusted over plate with a hake brush (Jan gave me the idea
several years ago).  If you were using baby powder, the other key is to
not let the image exposure draw down too exceedingly long.  I basically
wait until the Krene goes flat against the bed, then hit the exposure
switch with no extra drawdown time beyond that.  Since the screen
exposure is not the issue, you can draw down on it as long as you want.

--
susan
gravure blog at www.susanvossgravures.blogspot.com
website www.dalyvoss.com