Portfolio comments

To the group,
After viewing some work I included in the traveling portfolio a few people
have asked me about the solar plate process--so I've attached an offline
response (to Diana) that I hope explains a few things.
 
Thanks for the comments on my work. First I don't remember the type of paper
I used since the prints were made about six or seven years ago. It probably
was a cold press paper. The process is a positive to positive contact
technique. For those prints I scanned photographs and made B/W positives of
them in Photoshop. I printed them out on a Laser printer (Epson 1600) on to
an Epson Mylar sheet the type used for overlay transparencies.
The process is to place the positive on to the solar plate (also positive)
and expose it to the sun, a UV lamp, etc.. You remove the positive and etch
the plate down with water and a soft brush. The plate is inked up and them a
damp piece of paper is place over it. It's then rolled through an etching
press and the ink is transferred to the paper via the pressure of the
roller, The plates are unique in that you can etch down the plate in water
rather than acid making them environmentally safe. You can get a more
photographic look by using a microdot screen over the positive, or exposing
the plate with the screen first and them placing the positive over the plate
and exposing again. Either way the dots help retain the ink in the shadows.
(The microdot screen is similar to a halftone screen but with a much finer
dot pattern. You can also simulate dot screens in Photoshop as well.) I
prefer to have the image remain abstract with imperfections rather than a
photographic look; not that there's anything wrong with that.
It all sounds complicated but it's very easy and lots of fun. The plates are
available from Dan Weldan and other places. Dan help develop the solar
etching plate and lives near me in Sag Harbor so I've been able to worked
with him over the years.
Thanks again,
Gerry
Received on Tue Nov 9 08:44:38 2004