FINE ARTS OIL PAINTER • PHOTOGRAPHER • PHOTOPOLYMER ETCHING PRINTER
PHOTOPOLYMER ETCHING
Photopoymer Etching is when an image is captured on a plate that can be inked and printed by pressure through an etching press. Simple enough in theory. The early twenty-first century photogravure was the territory of master printmakers. Like so much, digital now offers us another way forward to soulful prints. Modern inkjet printers let us make a transparent positive which is then placed against a plate covered with an emulsion of photoinitiating polymer. Exposure to UV light transfers the image to the plate where it is “etched”, then washed in water and hardened before ready to ink and print.