Jumping to the water of Photogravure

Hi,

I want to try Photogravure to get the feel of the process. Currently I'm in the exchange students program in Germany and have access to Intaglio workshop here with all the equipment needed for the printing part (including aquatint). Do you know an instructor for Photogravure in Germany (or any close by country)? (I already contacted Peter Moseley but he is not available at this time). If not, I thought of trying myself but have some questions:

Is it possible to use zinc plates instead of copper to save some moeny?
Do the acid baths must be ferric chloride or is it possible to work with nitric acid too?

If I make the tissue myself, what should be its dry/wet height?

On the web it seems everyone is using potassium dichromate bath to sensitize the tissue. Is it possible to use spirit sensitizing with ammonium dichromate like in carbon printing?

[I have little experience with carbon transfer and intaglio]

Regards,
Omer

Have you given any thought to the less toxic polymergravure process? Bill Barber

While studying Intaglio I also made some experiments with photo-lithography/intaglio methods (xerox transfer, albumen, gum,...) and they all lacked the "depth" of an Intaglio print. Reading on the web I got the notion that Polymer Gravure will yield similar results in term of depth. So far I encountered only Photogravure prints but haven't seen any Polymer Gravure prints to compare them with. Do you know of a place in Germany I can see Polymer Gravure prints?