The Shop > Metal Stuff
Etching and lithographing
RobWilson:
--- Quote from: awemawson on January 06, 2016, 02:50:44 PM ---Come on Rob, don't under sell yourself. You've been casting tin / lead alloys on a microscopic scale :lol:
--- End quote ---
:lol: :lol: :lol: does that count Andrew . :thumbup:
Rob
vtsteam:
Hi guys, :wave: good to be back in this small way metal working. Thanks for the kind comments on the artwork -- it's been a long time since I did that. Kinda got hooked back into it when I dropped into a local little art school for an opening -- they had a new print shop, and I asked if they ever did etchings. They said no the chemicals (nitric acid especially) wasn't something they wanted to fool with. So I said it probably was possible to do with household stuff -- remembered something I'd seen on the Internet. They said hey, that would be great if you would figure that out and maybe teach a class here in that.
So I took it on as a challenge. Kinda enjoying it.They let me use their 24" x 48" etching press today, and supplied me with good paper, and a place to work, so I tried a really big plate today (relatively) 22" x 30" print -- full sheet of the paper. But it didn't work out -- pretty tricky on that scale to get it inked evenly without overdoing it. Oh well, it was fun, I'll have another go at a big print shortly.
My tiny work shop is the usual total mess and I'll need to do something about that before I can get back into it and finish that lathe. I mean literally get back into it! The printing on aluminum has all taken place in the kitchen and dining room table, except for todays print attempt.
I'm also thinking about trying electrolytic etching. I know it works well for engraving -- Rob, you've done a lot of that. It'd be interesting to see how it works for etching printing. I don't see why the old style heavy acids are necessary. And steel might make a good and long lasting etching plate.
Good to hear from you guys again!! :beer: :beer:
tom osselton:
Hi Vtsteam
I also am interested in etching I have bought some photopolymer material from capefearpress and have been gathering up all that I need for some salt water etching like laser printer, transparencies, and washing soda. I have a plate burner downstairs that should be able to expose it I hope (carbon arc) used 20 years ago printing in the basement on the Multi.
http://www.capefearpress.com/puretch.html
Acording to these guys the only chemicals are washing soda and vinegar.
http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/photogravure/photopolymer-printing-budget
joshagrady:
--- Quote from: vtsteam on January 06, 2016, 09:31:57 PM ---And steel might make a good and long lasting etching plate.
--- End quote ---
If there are any comercial printshops in your neck of the woods, you might drop by and see if they'd be willing to donate a few used offset plates to your cause. These plates are large (depending, obviously, on the size of the machine) ~1mm thick aluminium sheets. The plates for repeat customers are usually stored for future use, but the plates for one-off jobs are typically just recycled.
vtsteam:
That's very interesting, Tom -- I read the article you linked to. I eventually realized that what I was doing was lithography and not etching, which was a little disappointing at first. In etching you are making recesses that accept the ink, while in lithography you are making slightly raised areas that repel water, and so accept oil based ink. So the difference is in one it's a sunken image, and in the other it is a raised image.
The big difference is in how you ink them. In an etching you put ink all over the whole plate, and then remove it gradually from the high areas by wiping, which become the white space on the finished print. In lithography, you are rolling ink on the high areas (you hope) because the other (white) areas stay damp with water and repel the ink. Of course if you don't wipe the whole plate carefully and frequently with a water sponge before rolling each time, the ink sticks everywhere, and the image can be ruined. That's what happened yesterday.
I would still like to try etching, and I'm thinking the electrolysis method that Rob used to engrave would work as well as an acid bath. I think an etched plate is much more robust than what I've been doing -- even if you mess up a print, you can always clean back the plate because the image is incised. Doing the litho prints that I am, the plate can easily get ruined if you mis-ink it. I find that I have to do the artwork and print immediately, also -- the plate won't work after a day. That's an area that my be something I can improve upon, since commercially, litho plates can last longer, and be re-used, I think. I'm thinking the addition of gum arabic in the coke, might make the plate last longer.
Anyway, interesting stuff, and I would definitely like to try "real" etching with electrolysis, as well as improve the success rate of simple litho.
Josh, thanks. Yes I used to work on a newspaper in the '70s with our own press, and I remember the photo plates -- pretty thin, though <1 mm-- people used to patch their cars rust holes with used plates.
There are no print shops here, and the aluminum sheet I bought was only $17 and is infinitely re-usable for litho (not etching).
For etching, I think steel might be good -- it was used traditionally, and supposedly gave the longest lasting print runs, compared to copper and zinc, which were the other traditional types used for etching plates. Steel can definitely be engraved by electrolysis.
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