|
What
went wrong?
|
Why?
|
Solution
|
|
When
washing out the.
plate, everything washed
away.
|
Insufficient
exposure
|
Increase
exposure |
| When
washing out the plate, not enough washed away |
Too
much exposure
|
1)
Decrease exposure.
2)
Increase washing time.
3)
Wash in area without daylight.
|
| Plate
Sticky |
Insufficient
post-exposure.
|
Post-expose
again. |
| Not
enough detail in print |
Transparency
not opaque enough; Transparency upside-down.
|
1) Use more opaque
image-making materials
2) Turn Transparency emulsion to
emulsion.
|
| "Open-bite"
effect |
Image
too dense.
|
1) Longer exposure.
2) Shorter washout & blot with
fabric before washing to bottom of polymer layer.
3) Use double exposure technique
with screen
|
| Scratches
in plate |
Washout
brush may be too rough.
|
Use
softer bristle. |
| Water
spots on plate |
Water
residue not dried quickly.
|
Blot
immediately and dry with hair drier after washout. |
| White
spots on plate |
Acetate
& photocopy characteristic
|
1)
Better contact with vacuum may help; however, there may not be a solution.
2) Try heavier weight acetate.
3) Dust emulsion side of film with
talc.
4)Change the brand of acetate. |
| Black
spots on plate |
Drawing
dust or dirt.
|
Brush
transparency or clean exposure glass. |
| Drawing
material transfers to plate |
India
ink, certain pencils combined with pressure and heat.
|
Dust
drawing with talc or baby powder. |
| Circumference
of plate shows irregularity in tone |
Exposure
unit with vacuum frame
|
1)Use
slightly smaller transparency and trim Solarplate
2)decrease the bleed on the vacuum |
| Parts
of plate are blurred or ill-defined |
Contact
between plate & transparency too tight or too rigid or shifting
may have occurred
|
1)
Use more efficient clamps or vacuum or use different transparency. 2)
Use backing foam or cloth. |
| Plate
curls when stored |
Improper
storage
|
Store
plate w/h thin layer of oil/ kerosene in plastic; weighted with books
etc. |
| Double
exposure guidelines and trouble shooting:
Since the
double exposure technique is one which requires much more experimentation,
it is important to understand the principle of the aquatint screen.
When exposing the plate to the screen each exposure unit differs as
does the sun. Therefore, TEST FIRST! Expose a small plate to the screen
in a step scale with
varying times. Wash out the plate and print it. If you find for example that
it works with 90 seconds, you might try exposing your artwork for
the same amount of time. If you have a dense artwork give it
longer; a thin artwork would necessitate shorter.
|
| When
washing out, there is no apparent artwork on the plate |
Screen is
so fine, it may not be visible
|
Blot
dry with newsprint and examine
again. |
| When
washing out, there was open biting |
The screen was not exposed
long enough, or was not place emulsion side down
|
Expose
the screen longer |
| The
print was too light |
the work was over exposed :
the screen may have been placed upside down
|
Do another
exposure with shorter timing, place the screen emulsion to emulsion |
| The
print was too dark |
the work was under exposed
|
do another
exposure
with longer timing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
