Making Photogravures with Polymer Plates
Photogravure is one of the oldest photographic printing processes still in active practice. The traditional method uses copper plates etched with acid. This series uses polymer plates etched with water, a modern adaptation that makes the process accessible without sacrificing the tonal depth and physical presence that make intaglio printing worth doing in the first place.
The process sits at the intersection of three disciplines: digital photography, traditional darkroom technique, and intaglio printmaking. Competence in any one of them is not enough. The workflow requires understanding how a digital file translates into a printed transparency, how a UV-exposed polymer plate develops and holds ink, and how an etching press transfers that ink to dampened cotton paper under significant pressure. Each step has its own variables. Each variable affects the result.
This series began as a research collaboration with colleagues at the university where I teach. The initial goal was to develop a reliable workflow for making photogravures with steel-backed polymer plates, using equipment and materials within reach of a working artist rather than a commercial print shop. The research went further than the original scope, producing a body of work and a detailed methodology that eventually became the basis for this published guide.
The nine modules that follow document that workflow in full, from some basic settings in Photoshop through the final print on the etching press. They include the calibration experiments required to establish correct exposure times for any specific UV system, the process of building custom adjustment curves, and the intaglio printmaking techniques that determine whether a well-made plate produces a well-made print.
Series Overview
Introduction:
Equipment, Materials, and Safety
What the process requires, what the risks are, and how to set up a workspace that can handle both the digital and the physical sides of the workflow.
Module 01:
Main Workflow — Adjustment Curve and Transparency
Color settings, adjustment curves, and printing a digital transparency on an inkjet printer. The decisions made here affect every step that follows.
Module 02:
Main Workflow — Exposing a Polymer Plate
The complete plate exposure process: aquatint screen exposure, image transparency exposure, water washout, drying, and edge preparation.
Module 03:
Main Workflow — Inking and Printing on the Etching Press
Preparing paper, conditioning ink, inking and wiping a polymer plate, and running it through the press. The physical skill required here takes practice to develop.
Module 04:
Making Contact Printing Frames
How to build inexpensive homemade contact printing frames that achieve the even pressure required for steel-backed polymer plates, including solutions to Newton rings.
Module 05:
Finding Base Exposure Time
How to run a timed step exposure experiment to find the minimum exposure needed to achieve 100% black, and how to calculate optimum exposure time from that result.
Module 06:
Image Exposure Time — Basic Method
Finding the correct image transparency exposure time using a step wedge and variable exposure approach.
Module 07:
Image Exposure Time — Advanced Method
A more controlled version of the exposure experiment that varies both screen and image times simultaneously, producing a grid of results that identifies the best combination for any specific UV system.
Module 08:
Making Adjustment Curves
How to build a custom Photoshop adjustment curve by comparing a digitized print of a step wedge to its digital original and correcting for the tonal shift introduced by the entire physical process.
Module 09:
Intaglio Printmaking
An expanded reference for the printmaking side of the process: selecting and dampening paper, setting press pressure, conditioning ink, and folding tarlatan.