About a year or so ago I was introduced to Polyester Plate Lithography - this is lithographic printing using a special plastic plate. Lithography is a printmaking technique based on the concept that oil repels water.
This week I have been printing a plate I've made using a drawing of a Stone Curlew - look them up HERE - one of my favourite local urban birds. I did the drawing on cartridge paper using black marker pens (0.3 to 0.8), then photocopied the drawing onto the plate using a laser printer. The heat of the printer fixes the toner to the plate, and its ready to print. Easy!
I wet down the plate with a mix of water and Gum Arabic. I then rolled the lithographic ink over the plate, taking turns of wetting and wiping with a sponge then rolling etc etc. The plate must be wet so that only the image accepts the ink.
I then printed the plate using my Xcut machine on damp paper.
All good fun, I plan to do some more printing tomorrow. Right now its time to get out into the garden and get some fresh air! I just wish there was a real Stone Curlew out there.....
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| My printing area in my studio, you can see my Xcut printer in the bottom right corner. My 'inspiration' pin board is behind my work bench, looks kind of cluttered but totally OK in my mind! |
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| My new inks, expensive at $40 tube but I'm hoping will perform better than my etching inks. |
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| My polyester plate on the left and print on the right. Like two curlews checking each other out! |
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| Wiping the plate with water between inking rolls. |
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| Detail of the sponge in action. Gloves are great for printmaking as well as for virus protection.... |
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| Rolling the ink, back and forth, side to side. Then wipe down with water again. Repeat. |
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| Disappointingly and not surprisingly, the plate was a bit dirty and left marks on the print. Perhaps an opportunity to monoprint onto the background to disguise it? |
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| A finished print. I did four, this was the best one. |
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| Gum Arabic - the key to this lithographic technique. |
Thanks for the detail in this post, Sandra. I've not done lithography myself and was unaware of the polyester plates. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIts a great technique without the heavy process elements of traditional lithography - stones etc. :-)
DeleteI asked before how you were using the cut machine. I see now you care just using it as a small press. Thank you. I've done this type of litho in workshops also paper litho which works well on laser print. The paper lotto gives you a bit more of an organic result. Of perhaps it was just the subject matter. I enjoyed it but haven't done much since though I have a laser printer. Too much to do. Live too much of a distracting life.
ReplyDeleteYour work is always so interesting and lovely.
Yes my Xcut diecut machine is a great mini-etching press. Thanks for your lovely comments, I love to share my work.
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