From: Katharine Thayer (kthayer@pacifier.com)
Date: 07/08/03-03:57:38 AM Z
Vincent Dobson wrote:
>
> <:)-----Original Message-----
> <:)From: Dave Rose [mailto:cactuscowboy@bresnan.net]
> <:)Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 10:09 AM
> <:)To: Alt Photo List
> <:)Subject: Homemade vacuum frame (was: contact printing frames)
> <:)
> <:)
> <:)My vacuum frame was constructed using a 20x24" sheet of 3/4"
> <:)plywood <:)
>
> Great - looks like either your method or the rubber blanket method would
> work and be easy to build.
>
> It looks like you would not be able to view progress on half the print
> (without losing registration) with either method.
>
Hi Vince and all,
For gum printing, inspection during exposure wouldn't be an issue.
I agree with Dave's observations about using two pieces of plate glass:
I haven't found that good contact is achieved that way; especially with
paper negatives, the negative tends to wrinkle badly (and permanently)
between glass. But I don't do the contact frame or vacuum frame either.
My solution is eminently low-tech: I use a piece of thick (3/8" or so)
interfacing from the fabric store, on a platform made from a wooden
drawing board. I can't think of a good way to describe this
interfacing; it's not felted or rubbery but light and deep and webby,
something like the quilting filler that comes in sheets, although I
think it probably has more body. I expect quilting filler would flatten
out and lose its spring after a certain amount of use, but I've been
using the same piece of this stuff for 10 or 12 years and it's just as
springy as ever. I can't tell you exactly what it's called, since I've
long forgotten, but a trip to the interfacing department of a fabric
store would probably turn up something like it.
I lift up the glass from one side, place the negative and print on the
interfacing, lay the glass back; the weight of the glass presses the
negative and print into the interfacing and perfect contact and flatness
is achieved. I can print any size up to 30x40 using this simple method.
Katharine Thayer
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