Creating Printing Plates with Laser Toner - Part 1

[@yourunclesam6780]

it's no easy technique. but is fantastic technique.Thank you old school.

[@brendankevinsmith]

Thank you for sharing the video. With the advent of digital press production, printing is become a dying art. Keep up the great work.

[@BillRitchie]

Brendan Smith Thanks Brendan Smith, yes, digital is powerful but i think its the child of old-timey printmaking and the "child' can help the ancestors survive and thrive. Thanks for looking - BR

[@geomonicdotorg]

I enjoyed this video very much. One thing I would like to try when attempting this process is take samplings of precision micrometer measurements in the lightest and darkest regions (after etching and just before trial printing), to see if I can determine an optimal range to shoot for when etching each time.

[@LorriCarnevale]

What acid would you recommend for silver metal clay which once fired is pure silver

[@ninasayers473]

Question for you Bill Ritchie I'm just getting acquainted with different printing methods, and am very interested in using images via computer and transferring them to plates. If you etched longer, would you have a better photo transfer if your purpose is just to transfer the image from computer to plate?

[@lukejones1244]

Hello, I'm trying to understand how the written text was printed in black ink, when the text was indented, or recessed, into the copper plate. Can you help me?

[@yaserghanayem.9295]

i have a restaurant how can i print logo and restaurant nane in plates ???

[@LorriCarnevale]

Can you use transparency paper for this process?

[@dqvid]

I don't think you need to take down this video… you could add a little text over the video clarifying this point and maybe edit the description of your video. Your friend is right about the ferric chloride, but when used on copper your solution's nature changes. Thanks for all your uploads, very informative!

[@halfwoodpress]

I set it for 600 dpi, make a grayscale mode, work the contrast to somewhat darker than I want. Then I use the "Texture:Grain" filter, and fiddle with that a bit more. Then I exit the filter OK, and change the mode to BMP, diffusion ditther. I save it thus. Now I'm not sure - do I take it back to Grayscale? hmm. or, when I place it in my InDesign layout program . . . next time I'll take notes. Help!

[@pir869]

WHAT TYPE OF PAPER IS THAT,IVE NEVER SEEN LASER COPIER/PRINTER TONER PEEL FROM PAPER OR SCRATCHED FROM PAPER SO EASILY,IVE ALWAYS HAD TO SOAK AWAY THE PAPER,I WANT HIGH RES IMAGES FOR PCB AND FRONT PANEL DEACLS NAME PLATE AND RATINGS ETC,THE HEATING TO RE-MELT THE TONER IS A GOOD POINT,BUT THE PEEL APART IS ALIEN TO ME.

[@jsymons1985]

take the label off the label stock print on that

[@Sailordoc3349]

Bill very nice video indeed. In photoshop what setting or settings do you use in order to make the picture into a negative? Thanks Phil Bivins Proud Mini Halfwood Press Owner

[@Brentcolo]

brilliant

[@PrashakthaSenavirathna]

Nice video thank you for share your knowledge.Please keep it up.

[@BillRitchie]

With your compliments I am encouraged to keep it up, thank you.

[@dqvid]

Thanks for uploading your etching process, but please don't pour your FeCL3 down the drain! once you've used it with copper it's part copper chloride and that IS illegal to dispose of down your pipes. Call your local Landfill or Hazardous waste center, please google your local options.

[@1Mastadont1]

О как доллары печатать можно ;))))

[@alexdefigueiredoneumahn9405]

What a crappy camera, God damn it

[@BillRitchie]

Silicon-backed paper, that's the key. You don't buy it that way (not yet, anyway) but you buy label stock or contact paper, or any kind of self-sticking supply. Pull off the good stuff and you have silicon coated paper, the secret as to why the label stock doesn't stay stuck. This shiny surface paper can go through a laser printer (not an inkjet printer), and then you can iron on or run the paper through a hot laminator and the toner will transfer.

[@Sadieat1]

Hi Could you tell me which side of the label stock backing I should be printing on? Do you mean the side just below the label you have peeled off, or the back. Thank you.

[@BillRitchie]

When you iron the silicon paper with the laser printed toner on it, you are sticking the toner to the copper or brass plate. Then you heat the plate with the toner that has stuck to it very hot for a good bond. You use ferric chloride to etch the plate, the same as circuit-board printers do. Watch PCB videos, also, for it is the same idea but PCB is for circuit boards, not printmaking. But you can print PCB. Small home laser printer works. I have HP 1018, set on darkest prrinting.

[@BillRitchie]

Phil, I missed this! I use bmp images at 1200 dpi, and I use the grain texture among the filters offered by photoshop. I don't keep notes, but that's the general idea. I start with jpg, change to grayscale, fool with contrast, etc., then change to bmp, and try it out. I do it by trial and error.

[@BillRitchie]

Yes, you are right David, and when I can I will either withdraw the video or re-edit it with the advice to neutralize it with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). There is a lot of new information on the Web (mine came from a former waterworks engineer who said they use ferric chloride in his industry but I must have misunderstood. So I trying sodium persulfate, and galvanic etching. thanks for your help and I hope others read this, too. Or, take it off KZbin! I will work on it.

[@BillRitchie]

Some wrote, in Russian, "Can it print dollars?" with smiley faces. I wrote a better idea; Это не будет работать, лучше научиться делать красивые гравюры и продавать их за деньги, используя Интернет.