Re: solar plate

Hellena,

Dan Welden is a very good guy to work with. He'll help answer some of
your questions.

I've used metal shears to cut the plates, but I find this leaves VERY
sharp edges which is a real nasty thing when doing the water wash-out.
(I've cut myself pretty badly - even though I knew the edges were sharp.)
You can file the edges with a rasp, but that takes time. The shears also
pulled up some of the emulsion along the cut edge, so make sure to leave
a bit of border when you expose the plates.
I finally decided to take the plates to a die-cutting shop. (It was fun
trying to convince them I wasn't completely crazy... ) In the end, it
was worthwhile, as I got good clean edges.
If you go this route, make sure to pack extra filler paper between the
plates as even a good cut can scratch the next plate.

The aqua-tint screen Dan uses is a good thing, but I've had adequate
results by adding a halftone screen in Photoshop.

I use an 18 inch 15 watt UV fluorescent tube (which fits quite nicely
into an old aquarium hood) and my exposures are in the 4 minute range.

Make sure to harden your plates after the wash-out. Easiest way to do
this is put them back under the UV for a few minutes. I hear from a
printer friend that it's best to store them flat after you're done, but
I don't have the space for that.

Barry

Hellena Cleary wrote:

> I have bought some solar plate here in the U.K. but all I have for the
> instructions are a couple of A4 sheets. For further reading they list
> PRINTMAKING IN THE SUN, PRINTMAKING WITH PHOTOPOLYMER PLATES, HANDBOOK
> OF NON-TOXIC INTAGLIO AND THE COMPLETE PRINTMAKER. Can anyone
> recommend which of these books is best for a complete beginner? Do I
> need a metal cutter to cut the sheet down so that I can experiment? I
> have a step wedge and a UV light source. How do I begin? Hellena
Received on Mon Oct 24 09:50:10 2005