About

The ability to marry digital images with relief printing has been sparked by the widespread adoption of photo-polymer materials. Learn the process of making your own plates in this one-day workshop. Carl Youngmann and Ellie Mathews, letterpress printers, will demonstrate do-it-yourself, U-V exposure, water-wash methods for producing raised images using the BARN Book Arts equipment. They’ll also show how to make plates with homemade equipment and a kitchen sink.

We will start by discussing high-contrast images—whether from photographs, digital files, or scanned drawings—from which we’ll select an example and make an inkjet negative. We'll then expose the polymer emulsion to a black light. We'll process the plate in ordinary tap water and print proof copies. Specific products, exposure times and details will be outlined, so participants will be prepared to make plates themselves, whether at the BARN or in their own studios, to use in conjunction with letterpress or other printmaking methods.

Ellie Mathews began using photo-polymer plates forty years ago to make Braille signage. More recently, Carl Youngmann has figured out the intricacies of printing ink-jet negatives, exposure times, and washout temperatures to make his own plates at home, sometimes by using nothing more complicated than the sun as his light source. Together, they will guide you through the basics and share their enthusiasm for DIY methods.

When registering for class on-line, you will be asked to pay an added $10.00 materials fee. This will then be added to the base price of the class and totaled.