Waterless Litho and a Special Field Trip

My weeks in Buenos Aires usually start with Lorena and Matias picking an advanced technique out of the Tamarind  book of lithography and asking me if we can make it work.  This week was experimenting with waterless lithography using positive photo plates as our starting matrices (printing surfaces).  I know I just threw a lot at you right there but I'll break it down.  The basic principle of lithography is that grease and water reject each other.  When a lithography matrix is wet the grease loving image will take the grease based ink from the roller while the wet non-image areas reject the ink keeping those areas blank.  Then when the image is inked to the printers liking, paper is placed on top of the matrix and pressure is applied to create an impression.   Water is necessary in lithography but there is one exception to the rule and that is waterless lithography.  I didn't know if we could make the process work in Argentina but we made some tests and documented our steps.  Here's what we did.   

We start by developing 3 positive photo plates that we will conduct our tests on.  The thin aluminum plates come with a light sensitive emulsion covering the surface of the matrix.  A transparency is placed on the plate and we briefly expose the plates with intense light.  An opaque  image is on the transparency which protects the emulsion from the light.  The plate is then developed with a special chemical that removes all areas exposed by the light.  Only the image is left on the matrix since it was protected from the light.

  
Once the plates are exposed we add a special type of silicon to a beaker.  When dry the slick surface of this silicon will not take ink.  I carefully add about two ounces of the silicon to the beaker.

Protecting my respiratory system I slowly infuse turpentine to the silicon.  This loosens the silicon so it can be applied to create the smoothest surface possible.  I know the mixture is ready when it becomes similar to the constancy of honey.

  
Lorena adds about the third of the mixture to the plate and then uses a piece of book board to evenly spread it out.  The plate is taped down on a piece of news print which is also taped to the press to avoid slippage.    

Lorena then gently buffs the surface of the plate with cheese cloth (a very soft material) until any streaks are removed and the coat appears to be perfectly even.  After this the plate must dry for 24 hours.  We repeat this process for all three plates, slightly changing the consistency of the silicon each time.

The next day we eagerly washed out the emulsion with acetone (the moment of truth).  The emulsion acts as a protector for the image.  When acetone is applied it takes the emulsion and the image off the plate and the silicon just above it as well.  This exposes the bare aluminum plate in the area where the image once was.  In theory when inking up the plate, the roller just slides on the surface while the exposed aluminum takes the ink.   Under my careful inspection i noticed that the silicon was dry but not as slick as I remembered it from the Tamarind days. Of course I was a little nervous but optimistic none the less .  When Lorena rolled it up we knew that we were successful.  After we tried printing all of our tests we agreed that the most successful waterless plate was the one with the most thinned silicon mixture.  

   
We printed on the etching press with slightly damp archival cotton rag paper.  After a couple impressions we called it a day.

Here are the two impressions that we pulled with the waterless matrix on the right.  When we finished we cleaned the image out with acetone so that it could be used for a later date if needed.  All in all it was a successful week and to celebrate we visited the great Argentine lithographer, Ernesto Pesce.

Ernesto was kind enough to invite Lorena, Matias and myself over to his studio to enjoy some amazing prints and great conversations.  Lorena and Matias told me that back in the early 70s there weren't any lithographers in Buenos Aires or Argentina for that matter.  A close friend and fellow artist of Ernesto's visited Europe and returned with an idea to bring lithography to his country.  Ernesto and his friend started producing lithographs while teaching themselves as they went along.  Ernesto fell in love with the process and produced world renown lithographs for several decades and also became the professor of lithography at the academy of fine arts in Buenos Aires.  Due to the extremely physical nature of the process, Ernesto retired from producing lithographs but he still produces extraordinary artwork and teaches drawing and lithography in the city.

 
It was truly an honor to meet such an inspiring person and incredible lithographer.  I know that when i leave in May this will be one of my most memorable experiences from my trip.

I haven't been spending all my time exclusively in the studio, I'm sure you could've guessed that though.  Since Barnaby (my old roomate) is back from Patagonia with his parents, we've managed to enjoy a few delicious meals together.  Last night his parents took Barney, Maru and me out for a traditional asado (bbq).  Of course it was delicious and our tiny table sized grill came with all my favorite cow parts.  Earlier in the week we went to our favorite Peruvian spot to enjoy the city's finest calamari (at least we think so).  Note for all of you coming to visit me and you know who you are:  I'm going to take you out one day to this spot and once you go you'll crave it everyday, i'm sorry but i can't help to build it up... it's really that good.

As you can tell all is far more than well down here in the southern hemisphere.  This weekend I'm looking forward to seeing one of the grandest waterfalls on planet earth, Iguazu falls.  If you can't wait to for the next blog google iguazu fall, the devils throat.  I hear it's a must see for anyone spending a significant amount of time in this country.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Until then, enjoy the rest of your week and have a rockin' weekend.