Making a Polymer Plate for Photogravure (video)

A plate-making overview.


based on the workflow in the book
Making Photogravures with Polymer Plates

Game Lights on a Winter Night

photogravure (polymer)

working proof (first print, needs some cleaning)

4" x 6"

Making Photogravures With Polymer Plates (Book)

The book is ready!

$11.99  Introductory price.

available through Amazon


ISBN-13: 978-0615919218


ISBN-10: 0615919219 


Learn photogravure with this step-by-step instruction book. It has over 250 images and 140 pages of explanations that reveal what is needed to use steel reinforced, photo sensitive polymer, to create stunning intaglio plates.  

Applicable for experts and beginners alike, individuals with small home-made darkrooms or large universities, the methods shown will open the possibilities of intaglio image making without the need for acids, high v.o.c. solvents, fine rosin dust, or petrochemical asphaltum. The aquatint and image are made with film positives and UV light. The plates are etched with water. Both traditional oil based inks and modern "safe" etching inks can be used to make the final print.   

Photogravure is a photo-mechanical process in which etching ink is pushed into the recesses of a fine matrix ("aquatint") of a printing plate. Excess ink is wiped from the surface by hand. Damp cotton paper is run through an etching press with the inked plate, where it picks up the image. The resulting print is one of the most archivally stable ways of photographic reproduction known.   

Included inside the book is a unique method for visually creating adjusted digital transparencies. The technique can easily be adopted for the creation of digital negatives for any of the "alternative" photographic processes that are seeing a resurgence in recent years.   

Practitioners of polymer photogravure are not limited to just photographs. The same plates make beautiful etchings and reproductions of hand drawn images. Many artists use hybrid drawing and photographic methods to create intricate and beautiful work with the polymer plates. 

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Here us a link to a video that shows printing in real time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HkvxnO22s4

Inking a la squeegee

Multi-color intaglio prints that use only one plate require extra care to prepare, wipe, and print.  Normally this is associated with inking "a la poupee" ("with the doll"), in which each color is applied with small hand-made "dolls" of tarlatan; one for each color.  I prefer to use squeegee cutoffs; whether they are cardboard or plastic.  So, since this water lilly was not prepared with little tarlatan dolls, but with little pieces of squeegee, then I consider it inked "a la squeegee".  

White Water Lily
(nymphaea odorata, nymphaea tuberosa)

photomechanical printing book update

Working hard to keep this first edition affordable, I think that I can keep the price to $20 (or less, depending on the final edit size).

Instruction photos that are finished:
*  Photoshop and printing a transparency with an inkjet printer
*  Exposing the KM73 plate to a stochastic screen, image transparency, washout and heat setting.
*  Preparing plate, paper, and ink for printing.
*  Printing
*  Cleanup

I need to re-shoot some processes at the end of this week:
*  Finding a base exposure time for the stochastic screen and transparency.
*  Home made step wedge to make workflow-specific adjustment curves.
*  Some problem plates for a troubleshooting section.

One decision that I have to make soon:
*  What is the title of the book?

New York Show & Sale of 19th - 21st Century Photographic Images

Stop by and see my award-winning photogravure and some other VERY nice work photographs from contemporary artists as well as some antique photos.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

at The Lighthouse
111 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022

http://www.usphotoshows.com/shows_nyc.html

Black & White at Linus Galleries

see this photogravure of Matkatamiba in the show


Long Beach, CA
opening reception Friday, December 9th, 5:30 - 9:00 pm

http://www.linusgallery.com/blackandwhite.html
2699 E. 28th Street
Suite 416
Signal Hill, CA 90755


http://linusgallery.com/blackandwhiteshow/fine-art-photography-art-show9.html

Photography changes during printing process

Photography has always been full of multiple variables, most of which effect each of the others drastically. Slight changes in printer settings will make the most precise digital output change. Minor chemical variations in traditional (now called "alternative") photography can make a big difference. Same holds true for one of the oldest forms of photography: photogravure.

Look carefully at the two images below.
Same plate.
Same ink.


The process for the top print involved soaking the paper for only 10 minutes, and using a standard three-blanket setup on the etching press. The image has high contrast, some detail loss, and poor transition from light to dark (gradient).

The process for the bottom print was one in which the paper soaked for about an hour, and an extra sheet of printmaking paper was added on top the the paper/plate sandwich to act as a fourth blanket. The gradients are smoother. There are a couple more steps of mid-tone gray. Some very subtle details start to emerge.



I must give credit to Jon Lybrook for reminding me about this subtle, but important, printmaking trick. It was discussed in grad school, but my work at the time was suited for a standard three-blanket set up, so I forgot about the addition of a fourth "blanket" of printmaking paper until Jon mentioned it to me this January (he saw some of my gravure and said, "you know what will even out your tones...")

Note:
in the technical information page (click on Jon's name to get there), he mentions using two pieces of newsprint. When I spoke with him, he suggested using a piece of printmaking paper. I've tried both, and the printmaking paper seems to work better.
I find that I can use the same piece of printmaking paper as the fourth blanket 6 - 10 times before it's too soaked to be effective. I keep a regular rotation of these sheets by letting the wet ones dry, and occasionally stacking them all together and putting weight on top to straighten them out for reuse.

How To make a plate with photopolymer for safe(er) aquatint printing

(the original drawing was made by Marie Roberts bitterwonder.com)

I'm looking for feedback on this photo sequence.
So you need another photo to make the process clear?
What questions do you have about any photo?
Leave a comment and I'll get back to you (and this will help me fine tune how to teach this process)

December Alternative Photography newsletter

check it out!

campfire: old and new

(version 1)
vine black ink, white paper


I experimented with the contact between the positive/transparency and the plate for this one, seeing if I could get either a distressed or aged look. The result is good, but I'm wondering if I took it a bit too far. I'll make another version in cleaner conditions, and with better contact to see if a more clear image still holds up and gives the desired effect.

I'm looking to elicit the feeling of an old tradition by taking an image of a gathering from this past year and developing it with an older process of printing. Experimenting with some warmer black ink and some dark browns (perhaps even a some kind of sepia tone), and an off-white print paper might help signify age and tradition.

(version 2)
dark brown ink, white paper


(version 3)
dark brown ink, off white paper


(version 4)
new plate, vine black ink, white paper


This latests version is the one I'll go with. It has about as much mid-tone as I can get out of the naturally contrasty environment of night time campfire photography. Instead of distressing the image (through the transparency, and thus the plate), I'll use a dark brown ink on an off white paper. That will look more like an old photo, and it will knock the contrast down a bit since the slight color will read a slight more mid-tone than any pure black.
(the image was just a little larger than the other plate, so it is a better size, which reads better from average viewing distance in a room. The image is cropped, above, at the plate indentation, so you are seeing 11.5" x 8". I'll cut the plate down to about 11" x 7" and print on 15" x 11" paper, leaving an even 2" border all around)

Alternative Photography

Has made a web page for me to showcase my completed images, using the polymer photo gravure process.

http://www.alternativephotography.com/gallery/v/scott-barnes/

I am very happy that my work has developed enough to be accepted into this community, and am flattered that they have made a page for me.

from the header on the alternativephotography.com website:
"Historical photographic methods in use today - the art, processes and techniques of alternative photography"

There are too many unique techniques to list on this blog. Please enjoy my work, but you are also encouraged to explore the Alternative Photography website and look at the engaging work by other artists using varied historical photographic techniques.