> I'd be interested in more info on the
> Finnish photo-polymer gravure process too - do you sensitize you're own
> plates or are they manufactured?
>
A lot of people have asked about the photo-polymer process, and I promise
I'll tell you more exact details, but it'll take some time (hopefully
before the summer vacation :-)
a couple of things:
no, I don't make plates myself. A japanese company called TLB (???) or
something like that makes them. Certain non-photographic factories and
other institutions use it for other purposes (electronics, holograms?)
and so there is a supplyer or a contact address here in finland.
and a couple of questions Luis asked:
<Is the plate made by ICI or Autotype?
What is ICI? or Autoplate?
>raster, the less dots you'll get in the final print, which is printed the
You mean: the finer the screen ("raster" is German) the "smaller" the dots?
Is the screen pattern the usual gravure (square) screen or round dots?
<What is the maximum halftone resolution possible with such a plate? 300
<line/inch?
Yes, screen indeed (thanks Luis). the screen I used was made by K.
Holopainen, who is one of the pioneers in this technique, at least in
Finland. He made it by letting Aquatint powder (used in graphic arts)
fall/float drop,(whatever is a good verb for that) to a sheet of glass,
producing tiny tiny little particles of irregular shape. this was
repeated 7 times and the glass was then contact printed and duplicated
on lith ( I guess) film. so the screen is very fine, barely detectable
with a loupe.
<Does the final print have an intaglio plate mark around the image?
Again - intaglio mark? does it mean taht the image "soaks in" the
paper? yes, when you run the plate with the paper through the press,
it has a tendency to leave a mark,or press down the paper, I guess
squueze would be the right word..
<I do have prints from at least 300 identified different processes but I
<don't think I have seen prints made with such polymer-gravure plates. I
<always look for some new specimens for my collection and the next edition
<of my Encyclopedia. Would you or anyone you know be in a position to send
<me a fine specimen for evaluation purposes? Since such specimens are
<inevitably compared with the many collotype and photogravures I have here
<they should be high quality reproductions of full scale images. If I wish
<to reproduce such a specimen, I'll ask permission and in return the author
<will receive full credit and a free copy of the book it is published in.
Well, Ihave some prints, but I'm not a pro... Icould try talking to mr.
holopainen about it, although it would be very fascinating to receive the
book for that reason...
please email me directly and damned,my computer is stuck... later on,
tomi k.