This past week was extremely productive, and everyone was working hard. Jeffrey began using oil based inks, and for many of the prints we pulled he layered them on top of “ghost” prints of his watercolor vellums. (A ghost image is the print made from the leftover ink on the plate after its first run through the press.) We were all surprised and pleased by the results–many complex and unexpected images.
With some tweaking still needed to perfect our solar plate making box, we decided to use the good old fashioned sunlight to expose the solar plates for Jeffrey’s print. Finally, by Thursday it became sunny and we were able to make six solar plates using the bright Colorado sun. Sue and Julia worked together by passing the plate pack through the window, Julia exposing the plates and Sue preparing the plates and developing them.
Exposing the solar plate with a hand painted vellum on top, clamped together to prevent slippage.
Once the plates were developed, Sue and Julia inked up and wiped the plates for the first edition prints at Oehme Graphics! After printing a couple of runs on the press, Jeffrey and Sue played with color combinations and using various printing techniques until all the pieces of the print came together.
