Stripping Film

BobUK · Aug 25, 2024

I have seen an old box of Kodak Stripping Film for sale on ebay.

Googling Stripping Film only brings up links to blue movies.

Does anyone know what is, or was Stripping Film?

Thank you.

pentaxuser · Aug 25, 2024

BobUK said:
I have seen an old box of Kodak Stripping Film for sale on ebay.

Googling Stripping Film only brings up links to blue movies.

Does anyone know what is, or was Stripping Film?

Thank you.

No but I believe it was used a lot at Spearmint Rhino clubs

pentaxuser

David Lingham · Aug 25, 2024

Stripping film was a Graphic arts film used in the offset litho pre press work. I used it back in the 70s, it had a very thin emulsion that came on a film base carrier. It was mainly for type correction and occasionally for half tones work. In use it had to be soaked in warm water to separate the emulsion from its base before gently applying to the work area while still wet, usually with a small roller.

pentaxuser · Aug 25, 2024

David Lingham said:
Stripping film was a Graphic arts film used in the offset litho pre press work. I used it back in the 70s, it had a very thin emulsion that came on a film base carrier. It was mainly for type correction and occasionally for half tones work. In use it had to be soaked in warm water to separate the emulsion from its base before gently applying to the work area while still wet, usually with a small roller.

Fascinating but can you describe in simple terms what this actually did i.e. how did this achieve type correction?

Thanks

MattKing · Aug 25, 2024

You would apply it to the part of the lithography film that you needed to revise - sort of like combination of a registration mask and typewriter correction fluid.
You could also use it to add a half tone image to a blank part of a window in a page.
It is important to remember that the resulting sandwich of the lithography film and stripping film would be used to "burn" the plate which would in turn be placed on the offset press in order to print what the printer was printing.

Bill Burk · Aug 25, 2024

I should know the answer but all my old graphic arts books are gone.

I think it was like rubylith but instead of cutting by hand you got sharp window openings photographically

David Lingham · Aug 26, 2024

pentaxuser said:
Fascinating but can you describe in simple terms what this actually did i.e. how did this achieve type correction?

Thanks

In the pre computer age work for offset lith pre press work was made up with large sheets of graphic arts film by people called 4 colour planners in the UK, and in America they were called strippers. If a type correction was needed it was not cost effective to remake a whole new large film, depending on the proximity of other elements, either a patch of small film would be either cut in or attached using the stripping film. From what I can remember it wasn’t a very successful product. Matt King has also given a very good description of its uses.

pentaxuser · Aug 26, 2024

Thanks all for the explanations. Maybe short of seeing a video of stripping film at work, so to speak, I will never be able to fully grasp how this works. Not the fault of your explanations, just that some things are very diffícult to grasp with no knowledge or experience of the process at all

pentaxuser

Pieter12 · Aug 26, 2024

If I recall correctly, stripping was the technique similar to paste-up, where litho negatives would be assembled or corrected before making the final lithographic printing plates.

Carnie Bob · Aug 26, 2024

I use stripping film methods all the time, stripping film was and is used to register film together using registration punches and pin bars.

I use a very large light table with stoeeser pins in place and my apprentice eyeballs the different films into perfect registration for tri colour gum bichromate over palladium prints on watercolour paper.

Heath Moore · Sep 7, 2024

David Lingham said:
In the pre computer age work for offset lith pre press work was made up with large sheets of graphic arts film by people called 4 colour planners in the UK, and in America they were called strippers. If a type correction was needed it was not cost effective to remake a whole new large film, depending on the proximity of other elements, either a patch of small film would be either cut in or attached using the stripping film. From what I can remember it wasn’t a very successful product. Matt King has also given a very good description of its uses.

My first job in the printing trades was to assemble large negatives on flats in preparation to make printing plates. My job title was stripper. I asked a journeyman who was more than twice my age about my title. He explained that before the advent of stable polyester film glass was used to carry the photographic image. And the stripper had to peel the processed emulsion off the film and apply it in register to the glass. Never got to see any stripping film... just had to live with the title. Previous job experience? "Stripper"

Mal Paso · Sep 7, 2024

My girlfriend was a stripper and nobody cracked jokes as her job carried more responsibility and paid better than most of the shop.

Kodalith or equivalent was used for halftones, type and masks. I'm thinking stripping film could be anything from rubylith to clear sheet but not photosensitive.

Stripping Film

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