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

Re: Cutting polymer plates


SusanV wrote:

So... I handle them only under yellow light before exposure.
Great idea. I need to do that. Of course I'm certain I threw out my old safelights just last summer. :-P

Maybe I can just paint a 40 watt bulb yellow with enamel paint? Anyone do that for poor-person's safelights? Again, the sensitivity low on these plates compared to other processes...maybe on par with Pt/Pd in terms of ISO/ASA. Not sure exactly...

Printing a test of a real image using spray coating and no baby powder today. No patches are visible. We'll see what else happens...and will report back.

As far as plate tone... I don't want much if any plate tone unless I
choose to achieve it during wiping, so a certain amount of flashing
isn't a bad thing for me, and I may eventually choose to do a
pre-exposure flash, once I get my workflow all figured out.  In other
words, I don't want any tone "built in" to my plate... I want the top
surfaces to be glassy-hard and smooth.

Dan Welden's book has many suggestions on how to mitigate plate tone.

Speaking of that... sometimes I think the surface feels "soft" after
development and hardening.  easily scratched... my fingernail can feel
a give in the material.  is that the nature of a correctly hardened
poly plate?
Yup. They're definitely more susceptible to scratches than Solarplates. I only wipe the plates with clean phone book pages, newsprint, and tissue for that reason.

On the subject of durability, I spoke with a picky client recently who does lots of editioning and he says they typically don't get more than 30 prints out of a solarplate before the tone and sharpness diminish. I assume the same or less is true for the KM73s. Most I've done is editions of 20 with some changes, but not an unacceptable loss of quality after 20.

Jon

susan

On 3/13/07, Camden Hardy <camden@hardyphotography.net> wrote:
> Question: How particular are people about keeping their plates in the
> dark when handling/cutting? My newest batch I've been a little picky
> about in terms of keeping them out of the light sort of as a test. The
> results so far have been greater plate tone, presumably due to their
> "fresher" state and greater sensitivity. Used to be, I'd cut them in
> all conditions short of being in full direct sunlight -- ambient or
> reflected light was OK. Now I'm not so sure that was a good idea.
> David Hoptman would recommend only cutting plates in a dark room under
> safe lights. Seems like a reasonable precaution to take. What do
> others do/think?

I think you're on to something, Jon. I've been cutting my plates under
fluorescent lights, which I recently discovered significantly fog my pt/pd
prints in a matter of 1-2 minutes. Since km73 is faster under UVBL than
pt/pd, I wouldn't be surprised if my plates have been "fogging" too. That
may account for my utter lack of plate tone... :)


Camden Hardy

camden[at]hardyphotography[dot]net
http://www.hardyphotography.net