Above: Henny Van Ham. Swans Nourish Men. Kitchen litho. 2014
WATERLESS LITHOGRAPHY USING COMMON CAULKING SILICONE
A new process of producing aluminium lithographic plates using ordinary silicone rubber as an ink rejecting surface.
Developed by Nik Semenoff, June 1990, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
Historic background: Alois Senefelder discovered "chemical printing" nearly 200 years ago and since then lithography has relied on the principle that grease and water do not mix. While it has allowed lithography to replace most other media in the commercial printing area, the use of water in the process has produced a number of nasty problems for the printer. Because of this, printers have long dreamed of a system, which would completely eliminate fountain solutions and all the inherent difficulties. In the late 60's, Harry Hoehn of Long Island, NY, experimented with the then available RTV silicones. A number of years back, 3M had tried to develop a waterless system for the commercial printing trade; but after investing a considerable amount of money, they sold their patents to a Japanese company. Toray Industries, Inc., now markets a waterless process that is capable of reproducing very high quality photographic images. Since theirs is completely a photographic process, the image must be first drawn on paper or other substrata and replicated with a copy camera. Hand drawn images direct on plate are not possible, but images on mylar can be exposed on their positive plates. The cost and availability of Toray plates puts them beyond the reach of most artists.
While it is commonly believed that grease and water do not mix, lithographic ink and water do in fact blend to some degree to make the plate work better, but too much water in the ink produces a "short" ink which is difficult to use. Some art printers believe that a small amount of water which becomes emulsified with the ink will produce better prints, and control this in a number of ways. The fact that water has less cohesion than ink, the separation of the two takes place at the water layer, leaving a few molecules of water to be taken up by the ink roller. While water has been the basis of the lithographic process, elimination of fountain solutions would be better for the media. What was needed was a material on the non-printing area that would not be liquid at the time of printing.
A process that would eliminate some or all of the toxic materials now used by printers would certainly be highly desirable. Materials should also be easily available and not too expensive. Anything that would simplify the processing of plates and produce long running clean images from direct hand drawn plates could become an important addition to the artists lithographic process. – Continue Reading at polymetaal
A new process of producing aluminium lithographic plates using ordinary silicone rubber as an ink rejecting surface.
Developed by Nik Semenoff, June 1990, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
Historic background: Alois Senefelder discovered "chemical printing" nearly 200 years ago and since then lithography has relied on the principle that grease and water do not mix. While it has allowed lithography to replace most other media in the commercial printing area, the use of water in the process has produced a number of nasty problems for the printer. Because of this, printers have long dreamed of a system, which would completely eliminate fountain solutions and all the inherent difficulties. In the late 60's, Harry Hoehn of Long Island, NY, experimented with the then available RTV silicones. A number of years back, 3M had tried to develop a waterless system for the commercial printing trade; but after investing a considerable amount of money, they sold their patents to a Japanese company. Toray Industries, Inc., now markets a waterless process that is capable of reproducing very high quality photographic images. Since theirs is completely a photographic process, the image must be first drawn on paper or other substrata and replicated with a copy camera. Hand drawn images direct on plate are not possible, but images on mylar can be exposed on their positive plates. The cost and availability of Toray plates puts them beyond the reach of most artists.
While it is commonly believed that grease and water do not mix, lithographic ink and water do in fact blend to some degree to make the plate work better, but too much water in the ink produces a "short" ink which is difficult to use. Some art printers believe that a small amount of water which becomes emulsified with the ink will produce better prints, and control this in a number of ways. The fact that water has less cohesion than ink, the separation of the two takes place at the water layer, leaving a few molecules of water to be taken up by the ink roller. While water has been the basis of the lithographic process, elimination of fountain solutions would be better for the media. What was needed was a material on the non-printing area that would not be liquid at the time of printing.
A process that would eliminate some or all of the toxic materials now used by printers would certainly be highly desirable. Materials should also be easily available and not too expensive. Anything that would simplify the processing of plates and produce long running clean images from direct hand drawn plates could become an important addition to the artists lithographic process. – Continue Reading at polymetaal
RESOURCES
- #5 Printing the Waterless Litho Plates – New Directions in Printmaking
References (in progress)