Having taken a summer-long hiatus from the new blog, I figure it is time to catch-up. After my return from the Spring trip to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, we drove out to the breeder and picked-up the newest member of the family, Curtis. He was such a beautiful little pup and has already grown into a very large pup. He’s such a sweetheart and is very much attached to our unit now. Curtis on the beach in Cross Village. A bigger Curtis on the beach a month later. This dog grew like a weed!
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It’s been nearly 4 years since we lost our big Shepherd, Baxter. He’s left a big hole that we haven’t wanted to try to fill until now. With my boy hitting 8 years-old, we figure it is time. After careful selection of breeders, we’ve gone with this little guy that was born on March 1st of this year. He’ll be ready to come home on May 3rd and we can’t wait.
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So, I’ve been having problems with the “measles” as I’ve heard them called. These blotchy areas that appear on the plates, but not in the film positive. You can see them in the image shown at the right. The problem is more evident in the smooth toned areas of the background. Having tested many times over, I eliminated the problem being water spots cased during the drying of the plate after development. I also redid the positives several times over thinking that it was somehow caused there, but found nothing. Then, upon inspection of the plate and film compressed in the vacuum frame of the plate burner and found there were many, tiny newton rings caused by the contact of the glass and film. These were the culprits. Now the problem was how to stop the rings. Figuring I was using too much pressure in the vacuum, I dialed back the frame which seemed to help a little, but I was still getting the “measles” although they were more feint. I then decided to try baby powder, but found it messy and still not a solution when it came to the rings. This brought me back to the clear Krylon spray […]
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Back into the wet plate images today and decided to work with a couple nudes I did last year. One… the first nude shoot done by me with wet plate up in the Leelanaw Peninsula back in the summer of 2010 and then a plate done at Photostock 2011 last summer. Although very pleased with what I am producing thus far, I am noticing some blotchy areas in the plates that don’t seem to be in the originals or the film positives used to burn the plates. I’ll be exploring this and doing some testing over the next few days and will report back when I have something.
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After several days without fresh plates to work from, my order finally came from Boxcar Press today. Following up on the success from the other day, I once again went from a wet plate original. So far for me, the wet plates are more satisfying, but that may simply be because there are more flaws in the process that cover-up my beginner’s inconstancies. Still, they are looking pretty good and keeping me satisfied on my progress. Pretty much sticking with the same exposures… 10 units screen and 17 units for the image. Learning that can be tweaked a little bit through slightly extended development as well as by cuts in the image exposure by .5 units. These both give me a slightly deeper etch and therefore slightly darker image.
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I finally got a lot of the small bugs worked out of my workflow today and the results were much better and more consistant. A lot of the mottling problems I was having on my images came from the fat that I was not using Krylon spray, but an off brand found at Home Depot. Lesson #1, Use the stuff that is recommended. Don’t try to cut corners. Upon getting some Krylon today at Dick Blick, my plates got much better. I used my last one today to make the following print. Perhaps my best yet, I was able to print 5 without any great variation Now it is going to be a lot of inking and wiping practice until the new batch of plates comes.
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After much testing with Clay Harmon’s nifty test pattern, I finally got my exposure dialed-in for my plate/press combination. The final time stands at 10 units of light for the screen and 17 units for the image exposure. This yielded my the best black coupled with he best tonal separation. I also decided to work with someone else’s photograph in order to be completely objective. I found that I was overly critical while printing my own work. Enter another Clay… Lipsky this time. I will be working with Clay on an upcoming book for North Light Press on his recent Cuba project and chose an image from that body of work. Notice the nice blacks coupled with all of the subtle tones in the dashboard and windshield. Al in all a good day of printing. Tomorrow it is back to my own work to see if I can do as well.
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So today’s printing with properly prepared paper has been going much better. The first print didn’t get it, but they got progressively better as I went along. I’m guessing that after a few printings, the plate is more conditioned with ink and therefore yields a better print. Upon suggestion from Clay, I have also removed the fusion blanket from the press to get more pressure. The combination’s results were much better, although far from where I would like them to be. Practice will go along way in this process. Now it is time to make my own plate…
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So I get the press in fine shape and got it bolted down to the workbench where it will live. Anxious to get going, I break out the ink and commence wiping the plate made under Clay Harmon’s watchful eye. I figure this is the best place to start considering I had several successful prints pulled from that very plate and it would be a good starting point to compare my solo process to that with Clay’s help. The ink is mixed and spread on the plate. The tarletan is then used as I was shown to wipe the plate and finally using the soft part of the palm of my hand for the finishing touches. With great anticipation I get the plate on the press and cover it with a sheet of Rives BFK paper. The blankets are then layer over and the cranking begins. All has gone as planned and as shown… and I get this: Yuck… As you can see, a mottled and blotchy mess. Proof that even with the best teacher, the first solo flight can easily crash. Back to the drawing board. Possible issues are pressure in the press which was increased to better results, […]
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That’s right. I’ve taken the plunge. Thanks to Clay Harmon of polymerphotogravure.com, I’ve gone head over heals for the PolymerPhotogravure process. On order is a shiny new Conrad etching press, but in the meantime I’ve bought a Blick 906 on eBay to fill in the gap. I’m awaiting the rumble of the UPS truck as we speak.
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