Solar Plate Printing

This post is going to show you the steps for printing solar plates through genna s wedding invitation.

Solar plate printing.

Once exposed solar plates are simply developed in water without the need of additional harmful chemicals. Dan welden an american printmaker found that by exposing a plate in the sun he could make a high quality intaglio plate very simply and cuickly thus the name solar plate. The plate cannot be harmed by being left in the sun for time past the curing stage so it is better to leave it out for longer than risk inking an under developed plate. Printing may be done in either relief or intaglio.

With this hopeful small chance i am crossing my fingers that solarplate can continue. Solar plates are easy to use with little experience of traditional printmaking processes. Solar plates are made with a special photopolymer that hardens when exposed to a uv light source. My inventory currently consists of a large quantity of 8x10 s since its been our most popular size.

Plate thickness is less than standard zinc or copper and presses should be adjusted accordingly. Ink wipe and print as an intaglio. For our purposes solar plates are quite forgiving. Step five filing the plate.

You can work in normal indoor lighting conditions with incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs. Step six print plate. Unlike traditional etching techniques no. A friendly competitor involved in the industrial printing world is looking into manufacturing the plates.

Solar plates are a simple safe and fast approach to etching and relief printing that does not use grounds acids or solvents. Solar plate printing was the process past resident monica lacey worked with while staying with us last summer. Before inking eliminate the sharp corners of the plate with a file and remove the burr from the steel backing. Now the technique is widely known as solarplate printmaking or solar etching a term that describes so well the way many printmakers are working exposing plates in.

Solarplate is a light sensitized steel backed polymer material used by artists as an alternative to hazardous printing techniques. Uv light sources can be purchased or made but i prefer to use a free source of uv light we call the sun. The plates are developed by washing in water and can be printed as intaglio or relief prints. The resulting plates reproduce fine.

Nontoxic cleanup when finished printing solarplate can be cleaned using nontoxic methods.