Today I attended the photo etching and embossing workshop at Rossington Street. These sessions were set up by Phil and Lorraine due to there being a number of people who had not attended off their own back. I, along with some others tried to attend a workshop after one group had done themselves, the staff in the print room informed us that they could no longer run the workshops without them being organised by Amber or Phil, this meant that we had to wait for the workshop to be organised. Fortunately I was put in the group which was first to have the workshop. I feel that these organised workshops, though have been booked in as early as possible could have been thought through as I have had to wait for several weeks since the brief was given to learn about the process and have yet to develop my skills and try it out for myself. Having said this I really enjoyed the workshop and learnt a lot about a process I have never done before.
Before starting the session we were given some insight into the process and some tips to producing work properly and professionally.
- Don't use material which is too thick. e.g The paper will not sink into something which is too thick
- Images must be silhouettes to etch properly
- Lettering - serifs tend to fall out/off. Sans serif fonts are preferred, no smaller than 12pt
- The etching takes 7 hours to develop, this timeline must be kept very carefully because it can over etch and not work for printing or embossing
- What we are wanting to emboss must be softer than the material with the etching on (copper or wood etc)
- Avoid card and tiny designs
- If we want the lettering to be coloured and the background white it is very difficult - steer clear
- If we want to emboss then copper etching is best
- If we want to deboss/indent laser cut is best
- If we do not want the paper to have the marks from the embossing plate visible we must use copper plate which is significantly bigger than our design
After we were talked through some examples we were then shown how to produce the plate. Firstly, we started with a piece of copper plate which was sanded down using a hand sander.
Once the copper plate was sanded down we went to degrease it at the sink. To do this we rinse it under water and rub until the water runs off it.
After this we have to blot it on newsprint to dry it out
We then placed it on the press before adding light sensitive film
The light sensitive film is made up of three layers: frosted layer, protective layer and the layer with the design exposed onto it.
We then place it on top of the plate we have prepared in the press. It is important that we remember not to touch it because this will incur in an anchor point being added to it where our hands have touched it.
We then place the blankets on top of it and tighten the press with the spanner.
Once the machine has been tightened we wound it through.
Once it had been through we rotated it 90 degrees and sent it back through the press
Once it had been through the press twice and the air bubbles had been ironed out we trimmed off the excess down to the size of the plate and took it over to the UV box.
We placed the positive design ink side down which means that our designs do not need to be flipped before printing. We clamped down the box and turned the vacuum on. The exposition is usually between 7 and 9 light units. When it had finished developing which took at least 5 mins we could take it out of the box, it is usually a good idea to earth the material before touching it because it can give a static shock.
We then took the design to a bath which was filled with 10 grams of Sodium Carbonate and water between 18-24 degrees. (3 jugs approx)
We peeled off the protective layer before placing it in the bath of water and wiping it with a sponge for a few minutes. This allows the etching to stick properly to the plate and any excess film to come off. There is no specific time scale to this process as it will be clear to us when the plate is exposed. We sponged down the plate every 30 seconds.
As the plate develops it will become lighter and if we ran our fingers on it we can feel if it has any film left on it - it is important that this film is gone before it can be properly developed.
Before taking our design to the hydraulic press we rinse it thoroughly with cold water and blot it dry with newsprint, we then place it in the screen drying room to dry properly.
Whilst we were waiting for this to dry we used an existing plate to try out the embossing process. We placed the plate inside a padded board, we placed our paper ontop and layered tissue paper on top of it. The printer said that he had experimented with many different packings over summer and had come to the conclusion that tissue paper is the most successful.
We then placed the board with the plate and padding inside the press.
We were told to make sure the button was in the out position. (small button on right hand corner of press)
We had to tighten up the tiny wheel which allows the fluid to flow.
Once we had done this we could start pumping the handle to apply pressure to the design.
We then pushed the small button in to allow more pressure and kept pumping. need the pressure gauge to be between 4000 per square inch and 6000 which is between 10:00-14:00 (clock)
Once we had applied the pressure we could pull the button out and undo the screw to release the fluid. The Emboss is now done.
Trying with wood.
We put this in the hydraulic press in the same way as the copper plate and apply the same pressure.
The effect is not as good as the copper but it is indented rather than embossed.
Once our photo etching had dried we put it back in the UV box and exposed it once more. After this post hardening stage we tape it up making sure there are no ridges or folds and add an extra piece of paper which is hooked onto the back of the plate to allow us to take it in out of the solution.
The solution
I found this workshop very insightful and helpful and I would like to develop these skills throughout the print brief and others in the future.
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