Hi Murray, I have been following your Facebook comments as I am also learning how to use E9220.Have been mulling this over.
Couldn't one include a pure white border or frame around an image in the image file before printing direct to plate?
The intention is to have a plate mark in the paper around my images...therefore...theory being...if you made a border of hardened photopolymer around the image, it would provide support for fine details along the edges of the image.
When the plate is trimmed to final size, just include the border as the plate mark area.
Make sense?
Hi Cinda...you sure waited long enough for your first post here!Hi Murray, I have been following your Facebook comments as I am also learning how to use E9220.
I use PETG plates which have been beveled (with a sandpaper block) on one side to approx 60 degrees. After developing the plate and before film is hardened, I run a small Exacto blade along the bevel. Excess film comes off smoothly and the film stays on right to the edge of the plate. This avoids the cracking and/or the ridge where the film ends.
Just how black are your gravure blacks?
Instinct tells me that my gravure black will get much better with a press and more experience.
It would be nice to see some in real life, unfortunately, online examples are what I'm stuck with.Mine weren't a whole lot better than what you show there - maybe a bit more even. Having said that, I was looking at a couple of Paul Cupido prints about a week ago and the blacks on those were absolutely solid. Evidently I didn't press a densitometer against them, but they were as black as the black on any matte silver halide paper, and perfectly even without any white spots/specks.
I think you really need a press, yes. I never tried it by hand; the papers I used were a lot heavier, too, so it wouldn't have worked as well as it did in your case. Anyway, I'm sure you'll make lots of progress in the blacks department.
It would be nice to see some in real life, unfortunately, online examples are what I'm stuck with.
With a 27"x 32' roll of paper and a 13.5" x 250' roll of photopolymer film, I have the freedom to experiment, spin my wheels, test, and otherwise get comfortable within the process to my hearts content
Just how black are your gravure blacks?
I think a dry mount press would only achieve a warm hug, not the paper fibre squishing forces needed to see the plates edge & surface embossed into the papers surface.Do I understand correctly you are just using your hand to press the paper and getting this kind of results. What about a dry mount press? Anyone tried that?
:Niranjan
That's what I'm hoping for...bottomless, reflection free blacks that you can feel yourself falling into.Gravure is capable of delivering essentially 100% K (400% in 4-colour) in a single pass if you do things properly. Etching presses deliver an enormous amount of pressure (and with enough power in their mechanisms to shear really serious size bearings if they jam).
Asian printmakers have been using hand barens for over a thousand years to good effect
That's what I'm hoping for...bottomless, reflection free blacks that you can feel yourself falling into.
Hi Cinda...you sure waited long enough for your first post here!
I'll have to try that 60-ish degree angle tip for trimming the photopolymer to the size of the plate once things "get serious".
For recent tests I've been cutting the E9220 smaller than the plate. My last guesstimate at washing out resulted in pretty much bullet proof photopolymer edges where you have to really dig & pull at an edge to get it to flake, and even at the corners while flexing the plate it takes a good bit of effort to make it chip.
Used 5% sodium carbonate @ 65 degrees F (basement in winter darkroom) for 3 minutes while using a hake brush after 30 seconds. Dried it via blotting and 5 minutes with a hairdryer on high, then back under the UV light for 2 minutes. (The technical data sheet for Eternal E9220 advises a shockingly dilute & hot washout for a mere 60 to 70 seconds).
*WARNING* Total newbie to the process with no press to confirm anything.
Yup, I was trying the 10% solution as well (E9220 plates chipped easily and were flaky) then remembered they had emailed me the data sheet when I placed my order for the roll.Thank heavens for your FB post and the info above. I’ve been developing plates the same way as ImagOn, i.e., in cold water and a 10% solution. Did not know that there was a data sheet available until you mentioned it. ordered a seedling heating mat today and hoping for drastically improved results. Thanks again.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?