Your understated announcement carries an important message. The barriers to entry have come down!
Photopolymer platemaking material can be applied to photogravure.
Is this really new?
It is the substitution of one etch resist by another, which is less toxic and in some versions more easy to apply, plus maybe another way that resist is exposed.
Resist not coated on the printing plate but applied as readymade foil. If this is digitally printed and plain exposed, the workflow already is beyond the scope of this thread.
Correct me if I am wrong.
An analog positive was the route I considered after being unsatisfied with the digital positives I could get from my 3880. I never invested in a proper intaglio screen but decided to focus on other processes instead. I used the DK3 photopolymer mated onto PVC cards; the process worked quite alright. Direct to plate would have skipped the step of making a separate positive, but it was likely a hassle to get it to work with the DK3 film. Perhaps the material Kachel uses is superior in this respect.If I were to use it I would start with an analog negative
I don’t think it’s new. I used to be “in charge” of the photopolymer platemaking department of a printing company.
The material the book recommends was easy to use and handle. I can see how it’s adaptable to what they’re talking about here. The stuff I used came in thick sheets ready to use. You lay a negative (and in this case a screen) and put the sandwich under glass in a vacuum frame to expose. Process by washing in water.
Traditional photogravure required a lot of steps that this material eliminates.
If I were to use it I would start with an analog negative. It’s my position that a digital negative would not be as good. “As good” being my own moral judgement, you make your own. Aesthetically photopolymer prints from digital or analog source would be indistinguishable from one another.
To know the difference you would have to be told.
Now, I don’t think the art collecting world will care about the analog/digital difference when value is determined by collectors.
But maybe they’ll sneer at the fact you didn’t sprinkle asphaltum on polished copper. Maybe they’ll sneer anyway because of who you are. At some point you’re to have to not care what anyone else thinks.
An analog positive was the route I considered after being unsatisfied with the digital positives I could get from my 3880. I never invested in a proper intaglio screen but decided to focus on other processes instead. I used the DK3 photopolymer mated onto PVC cards; the process worked quite alright. Direct to plate would have skipped the step of making a separate positive, but it was likely a hassle to get it to work with the DK3 film. Perhaps the material Kachel uses is superior in this respect.
A screen of some sort is needed for any intaglio process. With contemporary direct to plate processes, this is either a stochastic pattern overlay added manually during digital processing, or the (inkjet) printer's native dither is employed. With old-fashioned copper plate based on a gelatin/dichromate positive, an intaglio screen or aquatint/rosin screen is used. Whichever way it is done, some sort of screen is required in order to hold the ink.And I don't think "intaglio screen" was/is commonly used by those photo-gravure artists, tho it was/is with roller-gravure (as became common with newspapers).
As far as I can tell, Kachel uses ImagON HD which is quite similar to DK3 I understand. However, there are many ways to design a workflow using either of these materials and hence, the material used itself doesn't tell the complete story. They're both thin photopolymer films that are adhered to a suitable base material, used either as the intaglio itself, or as a resist for etching the support after which the photopolymer is washed off entirely. As I understand, Kachel, like myself, opted for the former.Does his work seem "superior in this respect" to DK3?
Thank you for your kind comments. And you are correct, my goal is to bring the barrier WAY down. Cost is now a single digit percentage of copper plates and less than ten percent the cost of readymade plates.Here's hoping your book becomes as highly regarded as Tim Rudman's Master Photographer's Toning Handbook!
Of course. Go to my web site (first post in this thread) and then to the contact page. Send me a message with your email address and mention that you want a sample.I will send it via email right away.I would like to be able to preview a few pages before I part with my money. I've always wanted to get back into photogravure.
See the above response for the sample.David, I agree with Andrew a pre-view would be useful. I've no idea if the process would be something that would tempt me. So pros and cons of the process and why I or others might want to try using it as well.
I guess I'm saying sell us why Photogravure, or rather why you feel it's worthwhile.
Ian
An analog positive was the route I considered after being unsatisfied with the digital positives I could get from my 3880. I never invested in a proper intaglio screen but decided to focus on other processes instead. I used the DK3 photopolymer mated onto PVC cards; the process worked quite alright. Direct to plate would have skipped the step of making a separate positive, but it was likely a hassle to get it to work with the DK3 film. Perhaps the material Kachel uses is superior in this respect.
As far as I can tell, Kachel uses ImagON HD which is quite similar to DK3 I understand. However, there are many ways to design a workflow using either of these materials and hence, the material used itself doesn't tell the complete story. They're both thin photopolymer films that are adhered to a suitable base material, used either as the intaglio itself, or as a resist for etching the support after which the photopolymer is washed off entirely. As I understand, Kachel, like myself, opted for the former.
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