Don't know if it is still available, but there is/was KPR (Kodak
Photo Resist). It is a liquid that you can spread on a copper
surface that dries light sensitive. Can't recall if the mordant
is an acid or ferric chloride as I never used it much.
I don't think that using a gravure resist is going to produce a
very happy result. I once tried using 16 ga roofing copper for
a gravure plate and the resist was just too sensitive to all the
scratches and the flexibility of the copper to even adhere well.
It sounds like the foil you have is too thin to properly ink and
run through a press, but as an actual image support, it might
have merit. I am reminded of the work of Naomi Savage (Man Ray's
daughter/grand-daughter/or niece, I can't remember) who did a
lot of interesting photo etching on metal plates and then used
the etched plates as the final object rather than a matrix.
Good luck,
Carson Graves
carson@ileaf.com