- Joined
- Oct 5, 2010
- Messages
- 19
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- Multi Format
Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd start this thread because I wish there had been a thread like this when I started. Since I'd still class myself as an amateur, I thought some of you might also like to share some early horror stories, hints and tips. I'm still learning.
So! Heres a start...
Coating emulsions onto the paper :
Early on I could not for the life of me, get a good smooth emulsion. In hindsight, it was down to a few reasons.
Winter in sydney can get very dry, so my paper was too dry and the emulsion dried too quickly for me to get a good coat, and I got loads of fisheyes. Humidifying or dampening the paper with water spray helped a lot.
I also tried to lay the emulsion in one go with a foam brush, and too thickly.
I have found getting the emulsion even over the paper with the foam brush, then smoothing with a dry hake brush gives the best results. Smoothing for me means quickly flicking over the surface like brushing dirt from a fossil.
I have also made some terrible mistakes by trying to do things too quickly.
Putting an inkjet negative onto an emulsion that isn't dry will ruin the negative. FAIL.
Similarly, trying to dry a print quickly with a hairdryer can leave horrible drying marks as the water gathers small amounts of pigment that haven't washed out completely. Again - FAIL.
Getting an initial colour balance with tricolour.
My technique which seems to be working well (so far) - is to firstly mix up convenience batches of colour and gum.
I used 15ml tubes of daniel smith watercolours mixed with 60ml of gum in a dark glass bottle. (I have been using PY110, PV19 and PB15).
With these colours I used syringes to progressively add drops of colour to a medicine cup on an electronic scale. Through adding colours backwards and forwards and painting the results onto scrap paper, I found that a ratio of 4:5:2 (PY110, PV19 and PB15 respectively) yields a reasonably neutral black. YMMV.
I then use this ratio when mixing up the emulsion. Hey presto.
Also. Whoever came up with mounting onto aluminium to ensure good registration = a genius. (I think it was the guy from bostik and sullivan right?)
In the short time I've been doing that I can say I'm getting better results than ever. Also, if you get the pva mix right when you stick the paper on the aluminium- it comes off after a while. Brilliant!
I use old offset printing plates.
Anyway. I hope this is helpful to others out there. If you've got any other tips - Please join in.
Thanks to all of you who contribute to these forums - They've helped me no end.
Cheers
Benjamin
I thought I'd start this thread because I wish there had been a thread like this when I started. Since I'd still class myself as an amateur, I thought some of you might also like to share some early horror stories, hints and tips. I'm still learning.
So! Heres a start...
Coating emulsions onto the paper :
Early on I could not for the life of me, get a good smooth emulsion. In hindsight, it was down to a few reasons.
Winter in sydney can get very dry, so my paper was too dry and the emulsion dried too quickly for me to get a good coat, and I got loads of fisheyes. Humidifying or dampening the paper with water spray helped a lot.
I also tried to lay the emulsion in one go with a foam brush, and too thickly.
I have found getting the emulsion even over the paper with the foam brush, then smoothing with a dry hake brush gives the best results. Smoothing for me means quickly flicking over the surface like brushing dirt from a fossil.
I have also made some terrible mistakes by trying to do things too quickly.
Putting an inkjet negative onto an emulsion that isn't dry will ruin the negative. FAIL.
Similarly, trying to dry a print quickly with a hairdryer can leave horrible drying marks as the water gathers small amounts of pigment that haven't washed out completely. Again - FAIL.
Getting an initial colour balance with tricolour.
My technique which seems to be working well (so far) - is to firstly mix up convenience batches of colour and gum.
I used 15ml tubes of daniel smith watercolours mixed with 60ml of gum in a dark glass bottle. (I have been using PY110, PV19 and PB15).
With these colours I used syringes to progressively add drops of colour to a medicine cup on an electronic scale. Through adding colours backwards and forwards and painting the results onto scrap paper, I found that a ratio of 4:5:2 (PY110, PV19 and PB15 respectively) yields a reasonably neutral black. YMMV.
I then use this ratio when mixing up the emulsion. Hey presto.
Also. Whoever came up with mounting onto aluminium to ensure good registration = a genius. (I think it was the guy from bostik and sullivan right?)
In the short time I've been doing that I can say I'm getting better results than ever. Also, if you get the pva mix right when you stick the paper on the aluminium- it comes off after a while. Brilliant!
I use old offset printing plates.
Anyway. I hope this is helpful to others out there. If you've got any other tips - Please join in.
Thanks to all of you who contribute to these forums - They've helped me no end.
Cheers
Benjamin
