Laser Print Etching: Using laser prints for etching on metal By Bill Ritchie

Laser Print Etching: Using laser prints for etching on metal By Bill Ritchie With thanks to Tom Gootee Laser print etching is transferring a laser pri...
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Laser Print Etching: Using laser prints for etching on metal By Bill Ritchie With thanks to Tom Gootee Laser print etching is transferring a laser print to a metal plate and etching it in. I associate this process with etching plates for printmaking, but in this demonstration I’m making a decorative medallion for my Mini Halfwood Press*. Tom Gootee uses it to make printed circuit boards.

Start with a laser print

With my laser printer I print a black-and-white image of the Mini Halfwood Medallion (my choice for this demonstration) on the glossy side of “Staples Brand Picture Paper” and I cut the image out to fit a 2-inch square, 26 gauge brass plate that I plan to use for the medallion. ©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

*See Page 12

Page 1

Transferring the print to metal With an iron set at its highest temperature, and after pre-heating the metal plate, I lay the image face down on the hot metal, apply the hot iron and heat the paper for a few seconds, the iron resting on it. The heat melts the black toner from the laser printer. It becomes a soft, melted plastic layer. It’s important now that the paper doesn’t slip on the soft, melted plastic layer, so I sometimes leave a margin around the image and tape it along one edge.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Soaking the paper Now you immerse the plate, with the paper and image now stuck to it, in hot water and soak it until the paper is saturated and swells up. This may take five or ten minutes. You can leave it overnight, too, and this makes it easier to remove the glossy layer, next.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Rubbing off the paper layer I rub off the paper layer, first with my finger, getting most of the paper fiber off. Then I follow with a soft terry cloth. Underneath the paper layer there’s another layer (it was the “glossy finish” of the original paper) which must come off. You can easily see it -- it has a thin milky look.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Rubbing off the glossy layer When all the paper fiber is gone, I continue rubbing with the wet terry cloth, still under water. The image becomes clearer now, in this case the brass shows up clean. It’s ready to etch when the image, when it’s dry, is black.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Backing the plate The plate is ready to etch, but you should back it with a resist - something that the etchant cannot eat away such as a clear self-adhesive contact paper (as in the photo). Sometimes I spray-coat the back with a fast-drying enamel.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Etching the first open bite I put this 2-inch square plate in a plastic measureing up, so it leans facing against a side. Then I pour in enough ferric chloride solution to cover it. This is the open bite. The plate must be vertical or upside down when you use ferric chloride because the chemical reaction yields a precipitate of iron. The precipitate must fall out of or away from the plate.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Check the depth of the open bite The plate is rinsed with water followed with vinegar to reduce discoloration. Dry the plate. Then in strong, raking light you can see -- standing in relief -- the un-bitten areas and the depth of the open bite. A magnifier helps here.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

Page 8

Adding aquatint texture Aquatint puts texture in the open areas to get contrast in the finished plate and prints. I use an aquatint box to get an even layer of rosin crystal dust, then I heat it over a hand iron until the dust fuses to this little brass plate.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Etching aquatint texture The plate gets another etch, this time with rosin dust fused to the open areas. You can see there is a new piece of clear adhesive plastic on the back, larger than the plate. The plate is leaning, the image side facing down at an angle against a side. This is because that ferric chloride releases an iron precipitate, and it must fall away from the brass plate.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Remove the laser image and rosin aquatint SoySolve removes the laser toner and rosin. It’s possible to remove the laser toner by careful polishing with fine steel wool, but if you overdo this, you also wear down the texture of the plate. Finally, polish the plate. In this instance it’s done; if it were a printing plate, the image would be backward - and ready to print.

©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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Laser Print Etching: Using laser prints for etching on metal ©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

Published by Halfwood Press, a Division of Emeralda Works. For more information write Bill Ritchie at: 500 Aloha #105 Seattle WA 98109 (206) 285-0658 (C) 498-9208

Above: The Mini Halwood Press Left “Me with my Mini Halfwood Press I designed in 2004. It sells for $685 and up.” - BR

Gallery: Taylor Avenue Art Gallery 825 Taylor Avenue N., #3 Seattle WA 98109 [email protected] www.emeralda.com

Bill taught at the UW specializing in printmaking and media arts. He works in traditional printmaking and multimedia, and makes etching presses to go with his interest in developing links with like-minded artists, designers and crafts people worldwide. ©2005 Bill H. Ritchie

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