OUGD504: Design for print, Primary research: Photo etching and embossing

I went to vernon street for an induction of photo etching and embossing which was really helpful. We didn't physically produce any work but we were shown the process and how to do it.

There is two types of embossing, negative and positive. If you are wanting a positive emboss it's best to use wood. If you are making a negative emboss it's best to use copper.

The photo etching process allows you to use your photo etching to then emboss. Obviously if you're using wood all you need is to laser cut your design onto the wood and then just use the hydraulic pressure machine at vernon street to emboss.

For the session we were shown how to make the photo etching/ text etching in preparatory for the negative embossing stage.

Things to know:

> Dont photo etch text below 10 pt
> It takes about 7 hours for the image to be etched and it takes about 10 minutes to firmly emboss
> If you use small text the negative spaces can often join up distorting the letters
> If you want a lot of depth you are going to loose clarity, but if you want clarity you are going to loose depth
> Bold type that is structured works well
> The more copper the longer it takes
> Use wood that is small than 3mm

First of all you need to print your image (use halftones) or text in black and white onto acetate.

You need to sand down your copper plate degrease it then rinse it off. Dry the copper plate by blotting it.

You then cover your copper board with a light sensitive screen, the outside is glossy the inside is semi matte. 

Remove the semi matte layer and place onto your copper plate, cover it with a plain sheet of acetate and roll it through the roller making sure its all smooth. This is to stick the light sensitive screen to the copper. When you've rolled through once, turn the copper 90 degrees and roll back through.

Trim off the rest of the film.

If you are etching text don't reverse it before printing as during the process it is flipped twice anyway.

Tape your acetate to the copper with the sensitive film (use magic tape as light can pass through it) and place it into the light box. The machine setting has to be put to nine light units when using acetate.

You then need to peel off the acetate and the film layer and place the copper plate into a solution, which is made up by the tutors at vernon street.

The solution is 10g of sodium carbonate to 1ltr of water.

Wipe a sponge over it every 30 seconds to get rid of remaining film until the copper is revealed.

Take the image out and blot straight away.

The image from the acetate is then left on the copper in the form of the film coating.

The image is placed back into the light box for post hardening.

The plate is then put into the acid for up to 7- 8 hours. You need to tape the back up so the acid doesn't eat away at the copper on the back, and can only eat away at the copper which is exposed at the front.

When the etching has finished your pattern/ image/ text should be etched into the plate.

You can then place the copper into the press on a hard surface (surface provided)
place your stock on top then place a sheet of newsprint on top of that. The image is then tightened into the machine and pressed using hydraulic fluid, leaving your etched text or image embossed into your stock!