TECHNICAL

28 PRINTMAKING TODAY WINTER 2017 www.printmakingtoday.co.uk PRINTMAKING TODAY PUBLISHED BY CELLO PRESS LTD ©2017

As thepostdigitalprintmaker, we have created avibrant community of close to 7,000 followerson Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter (as@postdigprinter) who, like us, are exploring waysto incorporate digital technology into theirprintmaking practices. It offers a unique oppor-tunity for printmakers to showcase their workand share ideas. This article is an example ofhow we investigate new technologies and bringthem into our practice.

Much of our artwork is the result of a deepexploration of specific places. We may return toa place again and again, at all times of day andin different seasons where possible, takingphotos that capture its vitality and visual vocab-ulary through the surprise of discovery. A rockor a scrap of debris may be just as interesting tous as a mountain or a building. Once in thestudio, we experiment with our images, alteringtheir context by reducing them to their essentialforms. We set no boundaries for ourselves in ourexperimentation, letting the process inform thechoices that lead to the final image. We oftenemploy a grid so that each image takes up thesame physical space in the print regardless of theoriginal size.

As part of our process, we incorporate deeplyetched copper plates for embossment, viscosityprinting and relief printing. This is both time-consuming and expensive, limiting the amountof experimentation that we can do with eachimage. We began investigating the possibility ofusing a 3D printer for fused deposition model-ling (the most common way a 3D printerworks; by building the model in layers). Fuseddeposition 3D modeling has moved to a more

Print to Plate to PrintTECHNICAL Combining digital technology with traditional techniques,printmakers and bloggers Phyllis Merriam and Victor Merriam explain theprocess they have developed for producing 3D relief plates which hasattracted almost 7,000 online followers

affordable realm that allows for experimentationwithout making a major investment since printersare now available at lower price points as are freeversions of all of the necessary software. Wedeveloped a method of producing plastic platesthat provides a more seamless and less expensiveworkflow from image to plate. This allows adeeper exploration of the possibilities withineach image while at the same time preservingmany of the qualities of the copper plates. Our3D printed plates hold detail well, have a signif-icant useful life and are easily cleaned withoutthe use of solvents.

Process overviewOur method employs 3D modeling software toemboss or ‘etch’ a virtual plate using a black andwhite image as a template. This is known asdisplacement mapping. The virtual plate is thenexported for fabrication to create the physicalplate. The workflow for creating and printingthese plates is: image preparation, virtual platecreation and fabrication, inking and printing.Each of these steps in the process will bediscussed.

Image preparationThe image preparation in this process is similarto the one we used in our traditional sugar liftmethod. We start by using a high contrast blackand white image. Using photo-editing software,we remove details that we feel create too muchnoise, draw into the image to accentuate areas ofinterest, remove any grey pixels and flip the imagehorizontally. The final saved image must be thesame size as the plate that will be fabricated.

In the final plate, the areas corresponding toblack pixels in the image will be lower and thosecorresponding to white pixels will be raised.Compared to traditional etching methods, theblack pixels represent the etched surfaces andthe white pixels represent the surfaces withresist. If the plate is used for relief printing, thewhite areas of the image will be black in thefinal print.

Virtual plate creationWe use a 3D modeling application to create ourvirtual plates. We have used several programmesto do this and found that each one produced agood result although the process can be more orless complicated.

We start with the application’s standard cubeshape and modify the length, width and heightto match the size of our finished plate. Thelength and width are limited only by the bedsize of the 3D printer that we use for fabricationbut they must be the same as the image that willbe used. Our copper plates are 1 mm in thick-ness but we may set the thickness of our printedplates to 1.2 mm to allow for deeper embossing.This virtual plate can be considered to be thesame as a copper plate before etching.

Next, we prepare for embossing by dividingthe surface into a grid of length and widthsegments. Each of these segments will later bedesignated as ‘up’ or ‘down’ depending on thevalue of the corresponding pixels in our image.

The plate will have fewer segments than theimage has pixels, resulting in a loss of resolution.Adding more segments will increase the resolutionof the final plate. We have to be careful thoughbecause adding segments increases processingtime and too many may cause the programmeto crash. As a rough approximation we foundthat if we start with a 300 dpi image the resultingprint resolution corresponds to about 40-60 dpi,although we have been testing methods thatsignificantly improve this resolution. Experiment-ation has allowed us to determine how the platerefers to the original image and gave us a greatdegree of control of our finished print.

PRINTMAKING TODAY PUBLISHED BY CELLO PRESS LTD ©2017 www.printmakingtoday.co.uk WINTER 2017 PRINTMAKING TODAY 29

Lastly, we emboss the plate by using the dis-placement modifier in our software to importour image and specify the depth of the emboss-ment. This embossed plate can be considered tobe the same as a copper plate after etching. Wethen export the virtual plate as an .stl file. An .stlfile encodes the geometry of the plate in a waythat can be imported to a 3D printing applicationto provide the directions for printing.

FabricationA detailed discussion of the process of 3Dprinting is beyond the scope of this article butwhat follows is an overview. Fused deposition3D prints are made up of layers that are stackedone on top of the other. These layers are createdas the print head extrudes filament according toa set of instructions that determine where andwhen the filament is deposited. A ‘slicing’ appli-cation is used to read the geometry of the virtualplate from an imported .stl file, create cross-sections or slices and generate the printinginstructions for each layer. The slicer also pro-vides the ability to set many other parameterssuch as print speed, layer height and extrudertemperature.

The .stl file can be used either for printingon a standalone 3D printer or can be sent awayfor fabrication. We have experimented withusing service bureaus for fabrication and theycan be cost effective and provide good qualityplates. However, for our practice, we find theflexibility and control found in printing theplates ourselves to be superior. If you send yourfiles away for printing, we suggest you find onewhere you can personally explain your specificrequirements. Many universities have fabricationlabs that can provide 3D printing services andthere are also local maker spaces that provideaccess to printers.

We use PLA (polylactic acid) to print ourplates, which is a plant-based thermoplastic.Every 3D printer and PLA filament has its ownspecifications and idiosyncrasies so we experi-mented until we were able to obtain plates ofconsistent quality. We always read, understand

and follow the manufacturer’s instructions andmaterial safety sheets for all of the materials weuse and suggest that you do the same.

Inking and printingWe have developed 3D printing methods thatcreate unique surface textures on our plates.Depending on how we ink and print the plates,different aspects of these surfaces can beenhanced and varied end results can be obtainedfrom each original image. Through experimen-tation and practice we are able to control theprocess to enable us to create editions. We usethe same standard oil-based intaglio inks thatwe do for our copper plates however we thinthem a bit for this application.

Our plates can be printed in a number ofways. We can print our plates as we would atraditional woodblock using a baren. One of the distinctive features of our plates is theirability to produce deep embossment. To createthe embossment, we print our plates on anetching press or a lithography press using a thinfoam layer as we would for printing a colla-graph. We also use our plates to make three-colour viscosity prints. Currently, we are work-ing with Purgatory Pie Press to create typefacefor use in letterpress.

TeachingWe teach workshops where we have our studentsgo through the entire process to produce afinished print from their own image. We workwith our students to select suitable images anddiscuss how they will translate into a final print.We demonstrate various editing methodologiesto identify and modify areas that will not printwell and enhance the areas they are most inter-ested in emphasizing. We provide a workflowfor our students to finalize their image forimport into the modeling software and a step-by-step guide to create the .stl file. Making ourstudents practice with us watching several timesensures they understand the process. We demon-strate how to export the .stl file, load it into theslicer software, show them how to determine how

it will be printed, make modifications and thenset up for printing. Due to time constraints, weprint the plates and bring them to the follow-upprinting sessions. We also print backgroundplates, teach proper registration and give ourstudents two sessions to print and discuss howthey can use these plates in their practice. Ourstudents first use their plates for embossment andthen proceed to ink them. We are impressed byhow uniquely and creatively they incorporatetheir plates into their practices.

We hope this brief overview of our 3D plate-making process will encourage you to explore it further. We are often amazed during ourcollaborations with other artists how quicklythey embrace the technology when they realizethe plates can be made quickly, inexpensivelyand can be reprinted if they want to makechanges. We continue to be inspired by ourpostdigitalprintmaker community to find newways to harness the power of digital technologyto drive our own artwork forward.

Contacts

Website: ourownart.com

Tumblr : thepostdigitalprintmaker.tumblr.com

Twitter : @postdigprinter

Instagram: @thepostdigitalprintmaker

Facebook: thepostdigitalprintmaker

Images

Untitled (2016) by Phyllis and Victor Merriam, two 3Dprinted relief plates, 185 x 165 mm, AP

Manhattan Landscape II (2017) by Phyllis and Victor Merriam,3D printed relief plate with a 3D printed element, 305 x 305 mm

Stop Talking (2017) by Karin Bruckner, 3D printed reliefplate with chine-colle, 140 x 102 mm, edition of 1

Yellowstone Winter, on the press with the plate, by Phyllisand Victor Merriam, 3D printed relief plate, 305 x 305 mm

EI referencing the wooden chromatic type of William Page(2017) by Phyllis and Victor Merriam, three 3D printedrelief plates, one embossment, 95 x 128 mm