Class Description

The photopolymer process is an alternative way to make an intaglio plate that is printed in the same way that one would print an etching on copper or zinc. The fact that “photo” is the first syllable in the word “photopolymer” lends the notion that this technique is for solely making a photo etching based on a photograph. However, the word “photograph” comes from the Greek words “photo” meaning light and “graph” meaning drawing. Therefore, an artist can make an ink and pencil drawing on acetate and this drawing can be placed on a photopolymer plate, exposed to ultraviolet light, developed in water and then printed like a traditional etching. If an artist were to use a photograph for this process, then the photograph would need to be printed out on to photo copier acetate. The image on the photo copier acetate would need to have strong contrasts and sometimes better results are achieved if two photo copier acetates of the same image are registered to each other perfectly and then exposed on the photopolymer plate. For hand drawn film positives, the pencil to use is All Stabilo #8046 and the ink is Daler Rowney Pro Black which can be diluted with water. The drawing should be done on Graphix Duralar wet media acetate. Sharpies are not good because the line they make is not opaque enough. If the artist wants to draw with a marker, then Decocolor black opaque paint markers, either broad line or fine line, should be used.