Phoenix Gravure Pigment Paper Test Results most recent prints are at the top. Thanks to everyone for the feedback on the tissue, your comments are useful and appreciated. I hope with the notes given here this will give you a starting point for using the new tissue. All of the tissues for these images were sensitized with a 3.5% solution unless indicated otherwise. Feel free to try some different concentrations, lower % dichromate will increase the contrast and higher will decrease contrast. Stouffer tests will be needed for each concentration. All photogravure images property of Jennifer Page ©2011

Feb 2011 Workshop Prints with Unai San Martin This workshop was probably the first using a new gravure tissue since the extinction of Autotype. It was very successful and Unai and are planning another for this July and two in October.

June 17, Fish Out of Water
6.5 x 5" I am not updating this page with all my work as I am working on prints for an upcoming show in September. I wanted to share this recent 2 plate duotone gravure. The RGB channels were split and the R and G channels were used for this print. One plate is inked in orange and another with Charbonnel black. The positives were printed on Pictorico. The plates have a PICCO dustgrain.

May 5 Wax Myrtle 9 x 11.5" This image has a PICCO dustgrain. The great thing about Picco under the gelatin is if you have a minor flaw in the gelatin then you still have grain there that will etch and you can burnish to blend in. This is much better than an open bite. This plate was etched in 45, 43, 42, 41º for 9, 9, 5and 1 minutes respectively.This was printed with The Cowboy black by IZOTE on Copperplate Hahnemuhle.

May 2 Gyroscope I printed this recent test plate with some new hand crafted artisan inks by IZOTE Editions in Mexico. These inks are superb and made specifically for aquatints and photogravure. They are easy to wipe but stay put even in the lightest of tones while also giving great shadow detail. Please see our products page for more info and ordering. I am very happy to be able to use and distribute these inks for IZOTE. Master gravure printers have said these are the best inks on the planet right now.

April 27 Waves
7.5 x 11.5 The positive was printed on Pictorico with the Epson 1400. The darks were lightened to about 90% leaving the highlights intact. This plate was etched in 45, 43, 42 and 41ºB for 8, 10, 3, 2.5 minutes respectively, 23.5 minutes total. This image has a Picco dustgrain. It is printed with Charbonnel ink on Copperplate Hahnemuhle.

April 24 Jacob's Ladder
8.5 x 11.5 This image has a Picco dustgrain. The above detail of the dustgrain is 1.25 x 1.25". The positive was printed on Pictorico with the Epson 1400. The darks were lightened to about 90% leaving the highlights intact. This plate was etched in 45, 43, 42 and 41ºB for 7, 10, 10 and 6 minutes respectively, 24 min total. The RH was 69% and the temperature 73ºF. It is printed with Charbonnel ink on Copperplate Hahnemuhle. The graininess you see here is in the original photo because it was taken at night.

The photo here was taken by my dad on April 16. He sent me several snaps of the ocean the evening of the recent storm that swept through the Southeast, wrecking havoc and destruction with numerous tornadoes. I lightened up the levels quite a bit to get a little more range and info from the file. I plan to do some minor burnishing in the waves.

April 7 Marsh Ellipse
8.5 x 11.5 This image has a Picco dustgrain. The positive was printed on Pictorico with the Epson 1400. The darks were lightened to about 90% leaving the highlights intact. This plate was etched in 45, 43, 42 and 41ºB for 9, 6, 6, 2 minutes respectively, 23 minutes total. It is printed with Charbonnel ink on Copperplate Hahnemuhle.

April 3 Mercury
5.5 x 11" This image has a Picco dustgrain. The positive was printed on Pictorico with the Epson 1400. I have mellowed out on my aggressive agitation habits and the fine dustgrain is holding up much better lately. This plate was etched in 45, 43, 42ºB for 9, 5, 10 minutes respectively, 23 minutes total. It is printed with Charbonnel ink on Copperplate Hahnemuhle.

March 28 - Atlantic Towers
4.5 x 6" The etch was about 16 minutes total in 45, 43, 42, 41, 40 for 6, 5, 4, 3, 1 minutes respectively,19 total with shadows starting at 4 minutes. There is a little polishing in the sky to separate some tones and some engraving in the antennae. The aquatint is screened and the delicately etched plate has since been steel faced.

March 20
Amaryllis 3, 7x7" This image was exposed with an ink wash on frosted mylar, a photo image on Pictorico and a layer of 1 mil mylar underneath to prevent sticking and mottling. The stack of transparencies was built in this order from top to bottom and ink side facing down. The aquatint is screened. The plate was etched in 45, 43, 42, 41 and 40º for 8, 7, 5.5, 3.5, 2, 24 minutes total. Shadows began etching at 2 minutes and this should have stayed in the etch for about 30 more sec.

Feb 17 Three Skulls
Version 2 above 6.5 x 2.5" This image was printed on the Epson 1400 and the image adjusted leaving all the range intact. When I print the positive I view it against a white piece of paper and this is how I judge them lately. The positive and final print appear pretty similar in the second skull print and Amaryllis test. I have been thorougly testing my aquatint box recently for fall and dust times. My goal has been to get a good dust that will give me velvetty blacks at my longest average etch times without dusting any more than necessary. I have settled on a slightly shorter fall time plus slightly longer dust time to give me a little more dust and grain variety than the first print. The first version below creved because it didn't get enough dust and was also etched a little too long making the skulls look too gray. The dust on version 2 looked about 60%ish I think. This plate above was etched in 45, 44, 43, 42, 41ºB for 27 minutes at 6, 5, 6, 6, and 4 min respectively. There is no reworking or trimming of the plates and I let the black background bleed past the edges, trimming the excess tissue after lamination. I still need to file and burnish the edges on the top plate.
Version 1 below is obviously no good but just shown for comparison. This was etched in 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40º B for 26 minutes at 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 and 1 min respectively.
The tissue on both was sensitized at 3.5% and printed with GC Blue-Black on Copperplate Hahnemuhle.
The prints were photographed side by side for objective comparison.

Feb 12
Amaryllis II 5.5 x 5.6" This image was sensitized at 3.5%, the image was adjusted with its full range intact, printed with the Epson 1400 and etched for about 28.5 minutes total in 45-40º Baume Ferric Chloride. I am dusting my plates heavier now (55-60% ish) with the Picco and having no more creve problems. I am also not agitating the ferric as aggressively as I usually do and I only rock the plate about every 30 seconds. This plate has no reworking except to burnish and polish some scratches in the background. Printed on Hahnemuhle with Graphic Chem Blue-Black.

Jan 27
Carolina Bays 6 x 9.5" This is the third state from this latest gravure plate. This plate has a little spit-bite to repair some creve and burnishing in the highlights. I also spit bit the sky to hide some roofing copper plate flaws and then polished it back to near it's original state.
Processing basics:
Image from 35mm b/w film, scanned and import into in Photoshop Elements. I adjusted the image by eye and darkened the midtones slightly. I didn't lighten the blacks because a100% printed black closely matches a #12 on the stouffer.
Printed positive onto Posjet with Epson 1400 using all 6 inks CMYKcm.
Sensitized paper in 3.5% dichromate at 11ºC for about 2 min. Squeegee onto plexi. Dried flat overnight.
Expose tissue in Nuarc 26-1K for 4'15".
Aquatinted plate with Picco resin. Soak exposed tissue in room temperature 25% isopropyl alcohol solution (50% isopropyl to equal part distilled water) for about 45 seconds until tissue relaxed. Pour puddle of water/alcohol mix onto grained plate, laminate tissue onto plate and squeegee.
Set up developer water at 110ºF while plate is 'curing'. About 10 min later submerse into developing water, peel tissue after 30 sec. Develop for 5-6 more minutes. Soak developed plate in tray of 70% alcohol for about 5 minutes. Drain vertically and blow lightly with hair dryer or fan.
Etch following day for 27 minutes in 45, 44, 43, 42, 41 and 40ºB ferric for 4, 4, 6, 3, 5, 1 minutes respectively. My baume for my 42º bath was almost at 44 when I tested it afterward. I have adjusted it now and fine tuned all the others.
Notes: I had a small amount of creve on the right side shadows because my aquatint was a little light for this lenghth of etch. I retouched this with spit bite and roulette. My total etch probably would have been shorter if the 42 baume had been correct and it might not have creved!
Printed with Graphic Chem Blue/Black on Copperplate Hahnemuhle, the scratches are from using roofing copper which I should have burnished out ahead of time.

Carousel 4 x 9" Jan 10
This image was sensitized in 4.25% dichromate. Etched for about 26 min, good aquatint, no creve. This image has a bit of burnishing in the lower section. Printed with GC Blue/Black on Hanhemuhle.

State 1 below printed in Graphic Chem blue-black 327B. State 2 above with Charbonnel Black 55981 plus some spit-bite and burnish.

Wave 3 x 8" Jan 7
This is my most recent test with the Phoenix Gravure paper. This tissue was sensitized in 4.25% potassium dichromate. I've been having trouble with range in my positives and getting my mid tones and highlight shadows to etch well. A customer of mine generously gave me some adjustment tips here about how to keep my values nice and separated. This is the second attempt at this image with his adjustments. My first plate was dreadful and all my values were overly compressed and muddy but this image has much more range. The etch on this was for 21 min total starting with 45ºB ending in 41º for 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, and 3 minutes respectively.

Nov 12, 2010 Flower #8 Etch
Here is the last test print made with the Phoenix Gravure paper. I have been using this same image to test my working method as well as the paper. The paper is behaving consistently and doing all it should. My aquatint on this last plate is a little light and I have creve in my shadows. This plate was etched at 45Bº for 3 min, 44- 4, 43-5, 42- 7 and 41-10.5 min. I'm working towards getting my etch down to 25 min to prevent the creve. I intend to etch this image until I get it completely to my satisfaction, then I will move on to new images.

Sensitizing the Phoenix Tissue
The manufacturers recommend a much shorter sensitizing time but higher temperature, 1 minute at 14ºC. I have also tested this side by side with Autotype's recommendation of 11ºC for 3 min. The tissue produced identical resists with these sensitization times. Several roto printers say the tissue is fully sensitized once the tissue relaxes fully and does not need to go longer as it has absorbed all the dichromate it needs.

Photoshop vs Photoshop Elements
The positives for all my flower tests were made in Photoshop Elements and printed onto Posjet transparency with the Epson 1400. Photoshop Elements lacks the full curve function and the ability to save curves like the full version of PS but I think some people out there may be interested to know that precise and repeatable adjustments can be made with this inexpensive version of PS with a couple of workarounds. I learned these workarounds while coming up with a way to make photo etching halftone positives with a built in aquatint without using curves. PsElements also came free with my six color CMYKcm Epson 1400 Inkjet printer so I had to give it a try. I have been using Photoshop Elements as opposed to Photoshop because the computer that runs this printer does not have Photoshop installed. I have Photoshop 7 installed on an older iMac that runs my Epson 3000. I could make all my adjustments in PS7 and transfer the image over to the newer computer to print but I have decided to try out PS-E for simplicity sake. I have been using the Levels adjustment along with Enhance>Highlight/Shadows in place of the curves function in PS7. PS-E does not read K% like PS can in the info window but as a workaround I have pasted a calibrated 20 step grayscale along side my image for analyizing with the inkdropper and comparisons while adjusting levels. I only have to read the RGB# of these grays and adjust the area until it matches the target value. For example 95%K = RGB#15. If I want to make sure my darkest areas are 95%K then I adjust them until they read RGB#15. You will need to flatten the image after pasting the tablet.

PSE is not nearly as great as PS, but I am simply offering this info for your experimentation if you do not have the budget for the full PS.

Density and Range for Digital Positives from Inkjet
The range in this Flower #8 positive was adjusted to approximately 30-95%K while also increasing the midtones in the levels function. Each printer will vary so individual tests will be necessary. I also learned recently that a transmission densitometer will not take an accurate reading of a color based inkjet positive. Visually my 100%K appears similar to a #12 on the Stouffer but it only reads as .98 in density. The best way to test your printer is to print out a numbered grayscale tablet onto transparency and see what swatches resemble your ideal Stouffer steps for highlight and shadow. Then make a note of the percentage or RGB numbers from the info window and always adjust curves and levels accordingly. *The best way to objectively compare values visually is by punching a small hole in two separate cards because nearby tones can effect your perception and fool the eye. *See page 18 Morrish MacCullum

I have created a 50 step grayscale in Photoshop 7 like the one at right to use for checking the output of my printer and fine tuning adjustments for the needed density range for photogravure. It was created with a gray gamma of 1.8 with 16 bits/channel.

The percentage of black or K can be quickly calculated by adding each intersecting column's number for that swatch. This way I didn't need to put the number in each tile. For example, the swatch at 2 across and 20 down is 22%K. This grayscale is meant to be printed out and compared with a Stouffer giving a very objective reading of your printer vs. actual pixel analysis. Print this image onto transparency without making any adjustments with all the same settings you will print all your photogravure positives.

©2010 Cape Fear Press

Oct 20, 2010 Test Prints from the new tissue
This is number 4 test print of several using the same image. This plate was etched a bit too long and you will see creve beginning in the shadows. It was etched for 31 minutes total in 45, 44, 43, 42 and 41ºB baths. My only obstacle now is knowing how my positives should look with adjusting shadows, levels etc. I'm getting a densitometer so I can better fine tune my positives and predict my printer output. I really like how the paper is responding to my different image tweaks and I feel certain based on all the tests and tones I have etched so far that once I dial in my density range for my positives I will be able to make a very good print using the Phoenix Gravure paper. The positive was printed with the Epson 1400 onto Posjet Transparency. This 6 color printer shows no dithering under a loupe in the transparency even in the lightest grays. This plate was shaker box dusted with the PICCO 5120 Resin and the gelatin was applied afterwards. For anyone who may be interested, I also did a test with a Rustoleum Gold spray paint aquatint under the gelatin and it worked great apart from being a little coarse. I've also tested this paper from two different batches and it behaves consistently.

My background in this medium
I tried teaching myself photogravure using books many years ago. I began applying what I had read around 1993-4 with Autotype and could not get it to work. I became stuck (literally) in the development stage as my paper would tear during development time after time. I know now I was letting the paper cure too long after adhesion which caused the tearing. This tearing issue was very frustrating and also the garage space I had to work in at the time was not climate controlled so I gave it up for the time being. I continued to study and keep up with the developments in gravure through the years, mentally rehearsing the steps.

Acknowledgements
In 2010 I decided to give photogravure a go again after I learned of this new gravure tissue. It needed to be tested so circumstances led to me having to test it myself. Everything finally began to work as described in all the texts and books I had read on the topic. I am pretty much self/book taught for photogravure which means I learn lots from all my trial and error. I also enjoy experimentation and innovation. While testing the new Phoenix Gravure tissue last year I have had the great pleasure to come into contact with a few incredible people who are masters in gravure. They have been very helpful and willing to share their knowledge with me and I am forever grateful and humbled by their generosity. I am very happy to have finally learned this incredible medium especially with the latest innovations that can now be employed with it such as digital inkjet positives and the PICCO resin. I am officially hooked on etched copper plate gravure now and it is without a doubt (always has been and always wiil be) the ultimate medium for photo intaglio.

The main texts I have learned from:
Photogravure, A Process Handbook by Gary Kolb
The Keepers of Light by William Crawford
Photogravure by Cartwright
The Photogravure Repository by Craig Zammiello
Brief Outline of the Photogravure Process by Lothar Osterburg
Photogravure an Archaelogical Research by Jan Pettersson

All of these sources can be fully applied for the processing and use of Phoenix Gravure Pigment Paper with a few slight adjustments. Phoenix Gravure will need a slightly longer exposure than Autotype. Stouffer tests are recommended.
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Aquatints & Screens
When doing these early Autotype experiments I used powdered asphaltum (bitumen) for my box aquatint so I could laminate the Autotype paper with the alcohol solution. I was already using asphaltum for aquatinting on top of photo etching resist because I liked the fact you could see it easier and was difficult to over melt. The asphaltum is dirty, nasty stuff though so I wanted to try screens instead which also gave repeatable results. There were no random dot aquatint screens available in the early 90s so I tried making my own screen using the grained glass method described in chapter 5 of Kolb's book. Each film I tired always resulted in poor, soft and uneven results. Then I got the idea to use the actual asphaltum to dust a piece of lith film in the box at around 50-60% coverage and expose it to an overhead light in Rayograph fashion. I developed it in A&B producing a very high contrast, even dot pattern. This essentially photographed the dust pattern giving me a virtual dust screen. I used this screen successfully on many photo etchings but I never did try it with the Autotype.