Calibrated Direct to Plate Photopolymer Gravure for the Curtis Legacy Foundation

We printed five editions of photogravures for the Curtis Legacy Foundation. Edward Curtis’s great grandson John Graybill scanned five original Edward Curtis glass plate negatives. John spent a great many hours on each image to restore them to the original intent. We printed each of those images directly onto photopolymer plates using a calibration process we’re inventing that results in photogravure prints that match our customer’s display.
We formulated a 10 channel monochromatic ink set that we inkjet directly on photopolymer printing plates using printer software and calibration software that we write in-house. Because film, screen dots, and vacuum glass are unnecessary when we expose the plate to UV, we are able to resolve much smaller sized dots than would otherwise be possible. The result is a printing plate that appears to be made by the aquatint method.
Etching ink is a very sensitive variable that we control to the fraction of a gram. A calibration target is imaged directly to plate, exposed to UV light to harden the unprinted photopolymer, developed and hardened, and finally inked with one or more of these ink recipes. The resultant print of the target is measured with an x-Rite DTP70 autoscan spectrophotometer. We produce a software that then creates a “profile” that is used with our printing software to inkjet positive images on photogravure plates that produce prints that match a calibrated display. We re-calibrate when we change an ink recipe or use a new paper. But, we can also change our ink recipes to influence how a particular calibration behaves, much like in the traditional gravure process.
The system is fluid enough to work with in real time, and costs a fraction of what we used to charge for copper photogravure.
We don’t always put our clients to work. We offer flat rate print days to those who make the trek to our Vermont studio. They can produce as many prints as we can in a day and help as much or as little as they wish to. In this case, Mark Andrew the great grandson of Edward Curtis’s original gravure printer George Andrew, joined John Graybill who I mentioned earlier is Edward Curtis’s great grandson. They wanted to pull the prints while we inked the plates. In the two days that they joined us we produced 55 prints that more than exceeded their expectations..
Cone Editions will make plates for your studio using our process. You can order these online here: cone-editions.com/gravure/
From time to time we offer workshops in calibrated photogravure making: cone-editions.com/workshops/
And we welcome photographers and artists to contract us to make their prints and multiples, or reserve a week of self-funded residency at our studio.
You can learn more about the Curtis Legacy Foundation here: www.curtislegacyfoundation.org/