Re: aguatint screens and photogravure screens

[Gary Beasley <beasleyglb@mindspring.com>]

At 11:40 AM 8/11/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello!
>
>I just got the PRINTMAKING IN THE SUN book. I want to try photgravure. are 
>aguatint screens and photogravure screens the same thing?
>
>Can such a screen be copied using lith film in a contact frame?

A tint screen can be copied with careful exposure and development on good 
lith film but if the gravure screen is what you use for making halftones 
then no to that one. That kind of screen is made with a continuous tone dot 
that is greyed from high density in the center to no density between them 
that results in different sized dots on the litho film according to the 
lightness or darkness of the tone that is being projected onto it. I work 
with photolithography on a daily basis so you should check the details on 
that gravure screen to find out exactly what it is.
The tint screen can be copied because it has what is called a hard dot, 
definite edges that can be reliably reproduced. The halftone screen has a 
very soft dot with no definite edge to it, which enables it to be used  in 
the manner described. They are very hard to duplicate even with continuous 
tone film.