Art Articles & Reviews

} Reversals with waterless lithography Printmaking Series - Part 21 of 21 By Nik Semenoff Negative - Nik Semenoff Positive - Nik Semenoff Reversals of images have been part of lithography from the early days working on stone. There are a number of techniques practiced by experienced printmakers on traditional gum plates, but these are not available for waterless litho. In waterless, one must decide at the beginning that you want to reverse all or part of the plate, unlike traditional where it can be done at anytime. The only other restriction is that only water resistance drawing material can be used to produce the image. This would include toner, lacquer based markers, Future Floor Polish and some grease bearing crayons. Nik Semenoff Alan Flint After the drawing is completed, apply strips of masking tape or contact vinyl around the edge to create a white border. Dilute gum Arabic to about 8-10 Baume by adding about 25% water. Use this to seal the entire plate and buff down to a tight film. After it has dried, remove the image material with appropriate solvent without damaging the gum mask; remove border strips as well. Apply silicone to the image and buff it down to a smooth film. You can apply a second coat well after the first has cured, but do not leave too thick a layer on the image. Use water to wash off the gum to reveal the metal surface, which will accept ink when you go to print. It is possible to print the image first in color before the plate is reversed, but accurate registration must be set up. To do this, silicone is applied over the entire plate and allowed to cure. The image is washed out with pure acetone until the metal is clean. Do not touch the border as this can cause problems for you. Print the edition in the color but be very careful how you handle the surface of the plate. The silicone is not as well adhered to the gum layer as it will be to aluminium, but I have printed more than enough for my editions. After the first color is finished, remove the ink from the image, making sure it leaves no residue. Solvents are the only possible material to use as emulsions will break down the gum. Remove the border protecting tape and make sure there is no residue left from the adhesive. Now you can blind the image and border with a layer of silicone for reversing the plate. Water applied to the entire surface will wash off the gum and any silicone on its' surface. The plate is ready for printing. Reversals can be a gimmick if not used creatively and do not always add much to an edition. Remember that much greater pressure is required to print the large flats and much more ink is rolled unto the plate as well. This usually causes some filling in of delicate tints and destroys the artist's concept. I use reversals very seldom for that reason. ________________________________________________ Copyright © 2004 Nik Semenoff Nik Semenoff Artist-in-residence University of Saskatchewan Visit Nik Semenoff's website at duke.usask.ca/~semenoff/ for more information.