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On Cape Cod Making Prints With the Sun

July 3, 2010

Dan exposing a plate the old-fashioned way, real live sun

I have not expired, dear reader, I have just emerged from a two-week immersion in the wonderful process of solarplate printing, held at the Fine Art Work Center in Provincetown and Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Taught by Dan Welden, who invented the process, it was physically and creatively intense and demanding; I slouched home at about dinner time each night with just enough energy left to cuddle my lonely pooch, eat a sandwich and merge with the couch, transitioning not long thereafter to the bed.

demonstrating a three color print

a print of Dan's that has been substantially embellished

So, now that I have had some time to recover and reflect, let me share. As I have remarked before, with some notable exceptions such as myself, printmakers as a group tend to be high on the anal compulsive scale. There are a zillion technical details one has to be knowledgeable about in a print studio, from how to mix the inks to how to treat the paper, to how to calibrate the press, to how to prepare the plates using any number of techniques, to how to register the plates (i.e. how to line up the plates on the paper on successive printings so that they match up), how to clean up the inevitable schmutz and so on and so on. Believe me, lots of details. So it’s not hard, especially when learning, to become completely caught up in the technical demands of printmaking and to lose the art.

one of mine - with a lovely deep embossment

The thing I loved most about Dan Welden is that he started right off from the opening moment focusing on the art part of it all, the centrality of the image. And the process of solarplate printing is one the removes all of the toxic aspects of etching – no acid and no chemicals, just light and water to make an etched metal plate – and therefore allows an artist to relax a bit and make art.

same plate inked differently

doing a crit with my tryptich behind

Here’s how it works: a steel plate is coated on one side with a softish polymer that is photo-sensitive. (You buy those and they aren’t cheap, alas). The artist makes an image in black (and grays, if desired) on a transparent surface like mylar or ground glass. You can use output from a computer or copying machine, so long as it’s printed on a transparency. The more opaque the mark, the less light will penetrate. The image is placed face down on the polymer surface and then the whole thing is exposed briefly to UV light – either in the sun or a lightbox. Where the light has passed through (where there is no mark), the polymer hardens. Where the light has been prevented from passing through because you’ve made a black mark, it stays soft. You remove the image and wash the plate in water, using a shoe brush. The soft parts wash away and you are left with an etched plate.

I made some plates that I love and will be using all summer, including a big one – 18” x 24”, which is a good size for a metal plate. Look for them to show up in Gallery 555 in Washington in the fall.

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