UV Exposure Box for Polymer Plates

Once I had multiple letterpress printers and learned how to letterpress with polymer  the missing element was a way to expose plates myself so I can be more spontaneous. I've done research for years and almost bought an exposure unit but couldn't decide which kind. In the end my DIY urge took over. I always think, "Why, I could make that!"  Sometimes I'm too optimistic--we won't talk about the vacuum frame I made some years ago to use with my previous exposure unit made of a Home Depot work light with the UV protection screen removed mounted on a discarded darkroom easel. The worklight did emit UV but not strong enough so although I sometimes succeeded it was more luck than reliability.  Also heat would really build up and that didn't seem good for the plate material.   Now I was ready to do a more professional attempt at an exposure unit.

My hopes were to use it for exposing Solarplate, letterpress plates like the ones from Boxcar Press, and Imagon which was my first love. Advice varies from guru to guru. Keith Howard says you HAVE to have a point light source and that fluorescent bounces all around and I guess gets under your negative/transparency.   I can't afford those lights and they scare me a little bit so on to Plan B. It seems that many people are doing well with black lights. In Dan Weldon's book on Solarplate, Printmaking in the Sun, he gives instructions for making a box but when he gets to the step of wiring it he says to find an electrician--no way I want to pay for that.  Nevertheless, I decided to forge ahead.

Home Depot was the first stop where we got the MDF for the box and had it cut to order (thanks to the nice man who  so carefully cut the pieces).   In the lighting department I wandered around feeling discouraged until I came across some fluorescent bulb units that said they could be plugged into each other in a continuous line and at the end would be a regular plug--hooray!  I think they were meant for undercounter lighting.  They were about the size (18")  I wanted for my box so I bought 8 and later went back for 2 more to make the light source wider . Then I discovered that black lights didn't come in this size at home depot. I hit the internet--it took a long time to find the right bulbs.    Bulb Town was my hero. I learned a lot about fluorescents and their obscure naming codes.  Meanwhile I built the box and waited impatiently for the black light bulbs. I painted the interior of the box black to reduce the light bouncing around. I worried that there was some other type of fluorescent black lights that I should have gotten rather than the  the straight "black light" ones I chose.

With the bulbs installed the next step was to expose some test strips to a Stouffer scale negative and see what would happen. I wasn't completely clear on what I was going for--I only knew the Stouffer value for one of my plate materials so I used that as my guide. I figured the thicker material would take longer to expose and my test strips seemed to agree.  So my exposure box worked!!

  I began to realize how valuable a timer that controls the lights would be. So far I haven't found such a device in my price range (cheap).   I don't entirely trust my test strips as I 'm not so good at timing precisely and I like to go do something else rather that stand there twiddling my thumbs.  With a timer I could relax and know it would turn off after the right amount of time.  I think the slim line bulbs put out less light so exposure takes longer than units I read about. This is ok because, unlike the work light, heat doesn't build up during a longer exposure.

At first I put the plate right on the counter and the lights were the distance of the height of the box away from the plate.  Later on I decided to put the plates closer by building up a platform within the box.  I had to cut a flap out of the side of the box so I don't have to lift the entire box.  I put two hinges on the flap so I can lift the flap, insert the plate, and secure it with a turnkey.

I'm sure professionally exposed plates are better than what I can make, but as an artist and amateur printer of books, I'm quite happy  using my homemade plates.  As an impatient  person who sometimes doesn't plan very far ahead this is the perfect system for me.  For special projects I will still rely on Boxcar Press to make my plates--they do an awesome and perfect job.

It's Boxcar Press who sell the unexposed plate material I use and the excellent adhesive sheets that are easy to attach.  I make negatives with my laser  or inkjet printer on transparency films made for those printers.  In order to get a proper density of black I print twice and carefully align and  tape the two transparencies together.   For exposure I use a photographic contact printing device  or  sometimes I make a sandwich of glass and a backing board with  the negative above the plate and either black felt or black funfoam under the plate.

 I have experimented with using a space bag as a DIY vacuum frame as shown by Cape Fear Press in their  video  My space bags have logos all over them but one day I realized that the simple solution is to have the back of the bag face up.  I haven't scientifically experimented to see if there is a difference in the two methods of exposure "frame".

Washing out the plate is a subject covered in various places on the internet.  I bought one of the expensive brushes sold by Boxcar and I highly recommend it.  I think exposure and washing out should have a separate post which I will have to work on.   I have lots of pictures of this uv exposure which I hope to add to this post soon.

CD Player Trouble

Have you ever done this-put a CD in the player without checking to see if there was already a CD in there?  I didn't know it was so easy to put two in at the same time but I instantly knew I had a problem. Something about the sort of choking, coughing sound it made when I tried to eject the CD.  I searched all over Googledom for a solution and tried some of the suggestions there but the CD opening is impossibly small on the car and needle nose pliers  definitely did not fit in.  As the due date for returning the library's CD got closer  I got more anxious.  Suddenly an idea came!  I found a very thin, very flexible plastic ruler and put a tab of double stick tape on the end of it.  Then I turned the power to the  CD player on but paused it and then carefully inserted the end of the ruler with the double stick tape trying to aim it  above the cd. Then I lifted the near end of the ruler upwards so that the sticky tape would be pressed down on the CD and pushed eject.  Voila!  Out came both CDs unharmed!!   Now back to making Art....

Ahhh, Paste Paper!

Today, Randy Keenan and I conducted what the Books Arts Roundtable calls a Drop-in on Paste Paper. We both brought examples and Randy's were beyond awesome!! After a demonstration period we turned the participants loose. There was controlled chaos for four hours and at the end there was a mountain of paste paper to be taken home

Randy brought her ready made wallpaper paste and I mixed up a variety of homemade recipes for experimentation by the group. I told the participants to make notes so they could learn from their experiments but I forgot once again to do that myself. Oh, well, I'll have to experiment some more!!

Randy used contact paper as a stencil resist and it came out perfectly but I didn't manage to photograph that.

I learned from Jan Kerr the delight of making a detailed design and coming over it with a large tool which gives a wonderful two dimensional effect with one color pass.

It's clear that multiple layers are where the real fun begins.

There were some experiments done with unusual tools, such as a styrofoam block with many circles. Interesting texture was achieved by placing things under the paper which shows through when you come across with your scraping tool.

You may be wondering about the hanging system. I knew from experience that a few people can quickly amass an overwhelming amount of paper that needs to dry safely. I decided to string up two sturdy parallel cords between, in this case, some rickety easels.

Onto the cords I had pre-strung a variety of hanging devices that would hold the

paper perpendicular to the parallel cords.

Clothespins were adapted by taping on a sturdy piece of mylar with a hole punched in it. This way the paper would hang the right way and the hole was close to the size of the cord so that it would slide but had some resistance.

We slid two clips to one end for the first paper and subsequent papers were added fairly close to the previous paper along the parallel cords. I also had binder clips strung on the cords but the clothespins were better by far.

I had devices to enable a person to carry the wet paper to the lines and have a hand free for the attaching. There's nothing worse than making a lovely sheet and having it double back on itself or onto you and getting smudged. The best tool for that job turned out to be a simple wire clothes hanger with clothespins duct taped in place (so they wouldn't slide around) or a simple plastic skirt hanger. A lot of participants chose to manage the transfer without my gadget but I offer this solution to all future paste paper groups with my best wishes!!

Nifty Registration jig

I made up a handy dandy registration device for my reduction print.  I took a class last year with Chuck Miley where we used easy cut block material and used a sort of mat out of foamboard which we dropped our block/s into.  The foamboard was the same size as the paper, if I remember correctly.  So I adapted that idea for this flexible block I'm printing with from McClains.  I cut a piece  binder board/davey board in a thickness that was thinner than my block.   I made sure the outer measurements were bigger than my paper.  I traced the block onto the davey board and carefully cut out the block shape so that the resulting frame would fit snugly around my block.  Then I laminated some graph paper and did the same measuring and cutting.  Then I glued the two together with a glue stick.  This enabled me to figure out exactly where the paper would lie.  I cut two strips of the binder board and glued them along the paper line forming an L.  For extra measure I glued a triangle of binder board over the corner  but I probably didn't need to do that.  It might have been better to be able to see the corner to make sure I had fitted the paper into place each time.  The laminated surface was easy to keep clean.  I still have one more color to print on 60 some prints but so far the fit is still snug around my block.  There might be a slight up and down wiggle room but each time I place frame around the block and snug it tight against the "L" corner.   

I've had registration on my mind lately, as I'm trying to work out an easy reliable method of registration for my Poco Proof Press.  So far I've made a tympan and frisket, (awkward in several ways) and  I've attempted to register on the cylinder (seems to be some slipping which might be my tympan cover not being tight enough).  What seems intuitive to me would be a sort of snug mat around the form which could lie on top of the furniture and onto which I could  lay the paper.   I have a matcutter and could maybe print onto a piece of matboard and then cut out the printed areas?Maybe I could have a board that is type high that locks along the edge and this matboard could be attached with tape and hinge?  Still thinking...   There's gotta be a better way!

Reduction Relief Print

I'm overdue for getting my Baren Forum Chinese New Year exchange print done and I finally got time blocked out to work on it.  After some  research I decided on a design and got it worked out.   The reasons for doing a reduction print are less carving, better registration and harmonious color.  I had a new material I bought from McClains that is linoleum-like and is used by Japanese schoolchildren.  I bought a larger piece and cut it to size on my Kutrimmer with no problem.  I even rounded the corners on a corner rounder.   

I tried at first to use the Daniel Smith water washable oil relief ink but it wasn't drying and I remembered reading  that it takes a long time to dry especially with layered color.  Plan B was using my lithographic ink from Graphic Chemical and that worked fine.  I used a LOT of the transparency medium for the first block which gave the pale blue background color.   I even used a good bit of transparency medium with the second (brown) color.   I liked the second stage of the print so much I almost quit but I'm glad I didn't now that I've carved and proofed the black layer.

Happy Year of the Ox!!

Artist book!

Making a full length artist book was much more of an undertaking than I had ever imagined.  I thought I was home free once I had my concept but, oh, was I wrong!!  

This book has to do with the past 8 long years and I found I couldn't put in everything I wanted to, which is just as well.  I had to learn to distill things and figure out when one image would speak for many.  I struggled with the chronological sequence and in the end had to be arbitrary about which pages came in which order.  The Book Arts Roundtable, of which I'm a member, is having a show starting next week at the Pierro Gallery, at the Baird in South Orange, NJ, and this book was made as my contribution.  Since I'm a new member,  this is my first time having a book in the gallery show.   I'm anxious about whether it's  good enough or too controversial.  Tomorrow I hand it in and then I can just let it be.  

As you can see, I used my own paste paper for the cover and I used a Coptic binding.  The "button" is rolled up and glued paper like the cover paper.  The cover pleases me.

Here's my favorite page spread.  I used collage, painting and drawing.  It was a powerful experience working with these images.

I was able to work in some of my prints, relief and otherwise, into the pages.  In this page 

spread the "shock and awe" is a print I did on that subject.

I've let a lot of time go by without blogging so I'll try doing some catchup work.   I had the good luck to find a Poco Proof Press #0  on ebay which was within driving distance.  This particular press is unusual, in that it's been sandblasted to remove all the paint, leaving what looks like a nickel coating on the press.    It weighs quite a lot but my husband and I managed to get it safely into my studio.   

The first problem to be solved was figuring out how to keep the press bed from rolling right on off the tabletop.   After putting out queries and getting lots of suggestions I replaced a missing rod on the inside center of the body which projects just enough to engage with similar projections at either end of the press bed.  When the end of the press bed reaches the center projection it can't go any further because the two projections bump up against each other.  I used nuts with bolts for the center projection and for the missing end projection on the bed.   

There are also two holes in the surface of each end of the press bed which are supposed to have rods to be used as stops for locking up forms.  In those holes I used bolts with several nuts  above the bed and one nut under to tighten against.  I had to make sure the bolt wasn't too long or it would bump into the under structures of the press.  

Next I had to figure out the cylinder and packing.  That's still a work in progress but I used some davey board for bookbinding and cut it with the grain short  ( going from side to side of the press)  so that it would flex properly around the cylinder.  Over that I put a thin piece of rubber material and over that mylar.  The slotted rod which tightens the tympan was rusted and wouldn't budge but after days of using penetrating solvent it loosened,  and I was able to insert the tympan.  By that time I had corresponded with Arie K. who has the original instructions for the Poco still stuck onto his cylinder.  He kindly photographed  the cylinder  in segments and posted the photos to Flickr.  I spent some time transcribing as much as was legible.  These instructions say to insert both ends of the tympan into the same side of the slot and insert the tool (I had to improvise with a piece of rod) to tighten.  This worked perfectly!     If anyone would like a copy of the instructions I'll be happy to send them by email.  For some reason I couldn't get it to copy and paste into this post. 

I've printed one project so far--it involved type and a linoleum block.  It wasn't perfect but at least I can see the potential of the press.  I would love to try setting up some kind of registration device/system on the cylinder.  For the first project I simply eyeballed it and laid the paper over the form.   Another area to be improved is doing better hand inking.    And, of course, coming up with a name for my new friend.  Poconoo  is a possibility (get it?  poco no. 0)    Hmmm--some form of Pocohontas?  Pocohontapress?    Pocowantapress   Pocowannapress!!    Stay tuned for the winner...

Book Exchange

I've been doing a lot of work lately with a wonderful group of creative artists called The Book Arts Roundtable based at the Baird in South Orange, NJ.  One of the things they do is to have a book exchange twice a year.  Everyone brings a book in a brown paper bag and puts it on the table and then we draw numbers and choose a bag to determine what book we go home with.   Each person shows the book they received to the group and the bookmaker gets to briefly describe their process.  This was only my second time doing this and I haven't really found my "voice" bookwise but I felt pretty good about this effort.  

My book began with scans of some rejects from a woodblock Christmas card I'd made a couple of years ago.   I came across this stash of leftovers--some had dodgy registration and some had too much ink mess in the margins.  I could clean up the margins using Photoshop and then I printed onto some interesting papers I found.    I chose four stages of the print.  For the front page of the book I used just a background print and then attached a vellum layer showing all the colors which could swing out of the way or back into registration.   I had cutouts in the cover to show details of the print.

I'd been wanting to try Coptic binding so I found a book that explained it and got to work.  I used a paper with an Asian theme which had a cloth backing for extra stability since the paper is what holds the signatures to the covers.   It was a challenge to cut the circles through the davy board for the covers but I persevered.   Note to self--find a  circle cutter that is happy to cut thicker material.

I have a Martha Stewart device which does pretty well on paper but the board was too much for it.    I enjoyed doing the Coptic process once I had the concept in my mind.   I wasn't happy with the floppiness of the binding so I added some little straps cut along design areas of the paper and glued them on which worked pretty well.

Bookmaking!

I took a workshop last weekend, at the Baird in South Orange, with Miriam Scheuer in basic bookmaking techniques.   It was soooo hot in that 3rd floor room without air conditioning but it was worth the suffering.  The first day we learned lots of book forms, most of which didn't require gluing or sewing.  The second day we made two codexes.  One had exposed spine and the other was cased.  I hope I'm using my new vocabulary correctly.  I used some of my paste paper for the covers--the paper looks so much better in use than it did as a big sheet.  Anyway, it was very exciting and I feel ready to move into making artist books.  

Fun and Games

This is a surprise gift for my son.  I'm so certain that he doesn't read my blog that I think it's safe to post the progress.  The idea came from a crazy idea he thought of for how to frame his diploma because he majored in Ancient History.  He laughingly said it would have Roman gladiators and mythological characters cavorting all over the frame and emerging from it.   He said he didn't want some boring frame like everyone has. 

 So, I felt it was a challenge I might be able to take on.  My husband and I assembled a collection of plastic toys and cut them down so they'd appear to emerge from the frame and glued them down.  Then we gessoed the whole thing and then I mixed up some traditional gesso using rabbit skin glue, marble dust, tissue and linseed oil cooked up and used that to strengthen and smooth the joining areas.  I think we're going to spray it black, but the decision isn't final.  

New arrival--a proof press!!

Well, I couldn't let that workbench stay  empty, could I?  I spotted this proof press on ebay within driving distance (thank you, husband) and I put in a bid and  fortunately won.  Then I panicked--was this really going to print type and wood/linoleum blocks? So I used the time before pickup day to do research and quell my fears.  I focused on registration since I think that's the weak point for a simple proof press like this as opposed to some of the Vandercook proof presses.

 The sellers were very nice people--someone in the family had taught printing in a school and had a shop in the basement.  I quickly checked the press and saw I was correct that it will print type-high stuff so that was a major relief!  It is a LinoScribe proof press.  Apparently there are some LinoScribes that  print rubber type that's only made by the company but other LinoScribes are for proofing and sign printing. 

 Before even cleaning up the press I eagerly got out an assortment of cuts and type and linoleum blocks and tried it out.  Oh my gosh--it worked great!  I love the dial on the side that changes the height of the roller.  I discovered that it has a nifty mechanism to hold the paper in place that consists of a row of "fingers" which are operated by a handle held tight by a spring.  The roller mechanism opens the "fingers" by depressing the handle when it is in the farthest position to the left.   After putting the paper in place you can roll the carriage just a bit and the "fingers" close tight.    

I can see I will need to keep notes on how high the roller setting should be for different kinds of printing material.    The grid that was in the press bed was filthy and damaged so I removed the bar that holds that in place which is at the opposite end of the press from the "fingers".  I replaced it with graph paper covered by a layer of acetate.  I'm thinking I can write on the acetate maybe. Or maybe I'll want to put a grid specific to each printing job under the acetate/mylar.  

  I can see there will be a period of experimentation before I figure out the best way to deal with registration.  I've seen plans online for a frisket and tympan device but since I already have a way to secure the paper that doesn't seem like the way to go for my situation.   Maybe some strong rectangular magnets would be good to make sure my block stays where I want it when I'm in a hurry and don't want to bother with locking up the traditional way?   Always lookin' for easy street!!!   Also, magnets would hold the graph paper/acetate down at the corners.  I can't see a way to secure them at the "finger" end of the press bed.

I would love any input from experienced users of presses like this--there's just not much on the internet that I can find.

I love Serendipity!

I found this piece of furniture at a thrift shop and immediately saw it as a carving station extraordinaire.  It already had the slanted top and I put on some wheels and drilled holes for the pegs so the block can be held steady in different positions and glued on some non-slip material.  I don't know if I'll stand or sit as I haven't tried it out yet.  I love the fact that it has drawers down both sides for tools, etc.   I wonder how I can customize it some more--maybe a corkboard above the desktop to hold references for carving?  Maybe some small pegboard to hold stuff?   The brakes on the wheels need some adjusting so they work better...

It's taken some time, but I'm moved into my new 1/2 size studio space where I've moved all my letterpress stuff.  Once I had the presses and type and so on moved over, I realized I needed a work table.   Using a plan found online, my husband and I built this awesome and quite massive table.  The plans had a few mistakes in the measurements but we managed to work around them.  My enhancement was to put on wheels.  I collect them off of discarded metal things at our town's recycling center.  I look for the ball bearing kind and fortunately I had four nice ones.  They aren't the kind that have brakes which we were worried about.  The table moves easily but I think it's stable enough without the brakes.   The stain I first put on  emphasized the plywood aspect too much, so I painted over it with a nice neutral greenish gray.   The etching press in the background is not mine--it's in the other half of the studio which belongs to another artist.

Now, it's time to get some work done!

Hooray!!

I have my 32 Moku Hanga woodblock prints done and will get them in the mail before the deadline--what a 

relief.  Ha ha--unintended pun!   For those non-printmakers, I'll explain.  A woodblock is a relief print, as in the ink is on the flat surface of the print when it is printed.  The negative/non-printing areas are carved away and below the surface.   What a relief!!  

More Progress

I'm not sure why I couldn't get the text to upload in my last post but I'll try again today.  With days to go I am almost done!  I'm trying to be philosophical about the goof ups.  My prints will be 1/2" narrower than they should be but I'm hoping that's not as bad as being too big and it just couldn't be remedied in the time available.  I'm going to show the three colors I printed today.  I went over the sky with a gradation of the same blue color.  Then I did the green block and finally the gray of the road and cloud shadows.  I was too tired to attempt the black block as it requires some complicated adjusting of the registration.  Somehow the three color blocks are matched up but not to the original black block.  I decided to adjust the black instead of trying to change all the color blocks.  It was cowardly I confess.  I was afraid of having so many opportunities to make mistakes and the registration hell that would follow!  Now for take-out and a movie with my husband!!

Countdown!

Paste Paper Experiments

I've just gone through a period of trying out different recipes for paste paper and it was really fun.  I still haven't worked out what is the best paper to use and which paste is best.  There's something called Mohawk superfine that  I haven't found yet to try out.    I used some Fabriano Tiziano in colors and Strathmore series 400 acid free drawing paper in a big pad.  These all worked to varying degrees.  When you dampen the paper there is buckling which is hard to manage.  The Tiziano may have behaved the best but the Strathmore worked well, too.  I tried Japanese calligraphy paper in a pad which was no good at all--the colors weren't crisp and there wasn't enough contrast.   Maybe sizing is the issue...  There were so many variables and I should have kept notes but I was having too much fun and was too caught up in the design part of the process to do that.  Pastes that I tried:  white cake flour, wallpaper paste which said it was wheat paste, and rice flour cooked.  The rice flour required lengthy cooking.  I really think the biggest variable was whether I added some additives I read about--tincture of green soap and glycerine.  I would definitely add those in the future.   I even tried one batch using acrylic glazing medium with color but, surprisingly, it was dreadful.  The ink blurred after I made the design.   Since I'm not sure the wallpaper paste was actually methyl cellulose I plan to try the expensive version sold for bookbinding that is labelled as methyl cellulose next and see how that goes.  It's really easy to mix up which is good.  I've used it for Japanese woodblock and I like it.  One other possibility from woodblock printing is Nori paste which showed up for sale in a big jar container at my local art store.  I guess I would just water it down sufficiently. I wish the paper had a bit of shine and I read that methyl cellulose gives that effect.  There was an estate sale recently for some people who had a private press--The Golden Hind Press.  Arthur Rushmore was the pressman and his daughter Delight Rushmore designed paste paper for the books they printed.   The sale was almost over when I got there so not much was left, but I found an empty book cover made with the paste paper and bought it.  Thank you Delight!  My paper doesn't look nearly as good as hers but I like it nonetheless.  It's good to have as a sort of benchmark for success.  Hers is fairly shiny as if it were waxed.  I apologise for the quality of the photographs.

This is the kitchen pressurizing sprayer I use to apply an acrylic type aquatint.   I believe it's intended to be used for cooking oil.  You put the liquid in and screw on the sprayer top and then you slide the pump top onto the base and pump it until there's enough pressure.  I do this outside and use a dust mask to avoid breathing the aerosolized acrylic (Future floor polish or Lascaux hard resist).  I stand where there's a darking background so the droplets are visible and I spray up high into the air.  As the droplets fall I slide the copper plate horizontally into the cloud of descending spray and it settles on the plate very nicely.  I do this repeatedly until I have what I want, using a magnifier loupe to check the progress.   Windy days are a problem but I've managed to deal with even that

ot the patience to wait for the weather to cooperate!  I rinse out and pump and spray water through the sprayer as soon as I've finished applying the aquatint.  If I'm worried that some acrylic may have dried on it I put some ammonia in it and spray that but you need to hold your breath in that case.

Here's the sprayer taken apart--the top piece is the pump.  It's a pretty simple device.  There's a gasket you can't see that ensures that the sprayer makes a tight seal and holds the pressure.  I have another one that's all plastic and it has a crack in it but will hold the pressure pretty well in spite of that.

The last photo is of the pump on top ready for pressurizing.

If you look on my Etsy site you can see some aquatinted etchings I made with this process.

http://www.artisanlyn.etsy.com

So here is the "Rats!" print.  I had to start over carving which is not something I like to do so I got to know this image very well.   I tried to use MDF and it carved really well but the minute water got on it the surface swelled up.  Perhaps if I had varnished before trying to print I could have avoided it but once it became uneven there was no remedy.  Well, it gave me a chance to refine the image...

Here are my prints all laid out to dry for the Barenforum's Chinese New Year exchange.  This is the year of the Rat.  I had a hard time warming up to the concept of rats but then I discovered all the people online who have pet rats and are apparently very fond of them.  VERY fond!   Do a Google search and you'll see what I mean.  So my rats are very well fed like pet rats and only a little bit mischievous.  I guess they're celebrating their year by nibbling on the calendar!