Re: Pictorico in a Vacuum Frame

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the idea, but a minute of warm air from a hairdryer over both
the plate and the Pictorico didn't seem to change things. Should I have
done something differently?

Baby powder, in one thin coating, and minimal drawdown times, seems to
be working the best, though it adds some steps to the process
(powdering, powder reduction, and vacuum frame cleanup afterwards).

Regards,
Jon

jpptprnt1@verizon.net wrote:
> Jon.
>
> Try this
>
> 1. Try drying the Pictrico with warm air
>
> 2. Hit the plate with warm air
>
> 3. Do not use the Anti Stat thing they have some sort of resido on them like
> anti stat bags for computer part I think it may be transfering
>
> Jan Pietrzak
>
>
> From: Jon Lybrook <jon@terabear.com>
> Date: Fri Feb 24 18:31:50 CST 2006
> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
> Subject: Re: Pictorico in a Vacuum Frame
>
> Hi All,
>
> I think baby powder, along with some modifications to my procedure, worked.
>
> There's definitely an issue with the way Pictorico makes contact with
> mylar-protected poly plates, such as the KM73. Both are somewhat tacky
> (once the mylar is removed from the plate). The longer the drawdown, the
> more newton rings appear around the peripheral of the plate, encroaching
> toward the center, like leprosy. This does not occur with imagesetter
> film, only the Pictorico.
>
> The solution for me seems to be to only apply baby powder to the plate
> after exposing the aquatint screen. I follow Jan P's advice from 2
> years ago on how to apply the baby powder: Dust the plate, tap it off
> one end, then the other, dust off with a hake brush using crosshatch
> strokes. I then do a final wipe with an anti-static cloth to remove
> even more, then make sure there's no pattern in the powder remaining on
> the plate, as much as possible, before exposing the transparency. I
> also keep drawdown time to a minimum in both cases - just enough to let
> all the air evacuate the vacuum frame and ensure good contact has been
> established. I may be more liberal with the drawdown time in the
> future, but for now, less is definitely more.
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>
>
>
> Jon Lybrook wrote:
>
>>
>>Jeremy Moore wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Jon, how long are you waiting and letting the ink cure before
>>>printing? The ink may still be wet in patches and the vacuum frame is
>>>pulling the ink off.
>>>
>>
>>Hi Jeremy,
>>
>>Thanks for responding. The ink had been dry for well over 24 hours.
>>Also, the pattern of patches was random from plate to plate and there
>>was no sign of damage to the transparency.
>>
>>Jon
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
Received on Sun Feb 26 20:52:06 2006