I finally got some time to finish up and proof my 24″ x 30″ plate of the three pears. FPVC seems to work pretty well for plates, although I was surprised to find that the plates absorb a bit of ink. The material does give very crisp edges. The main problem with FPVC is that the cutting process produces a huge amount of plastic dust. I will have to decide whether to cut the large pumpkin out of FPVC or try another material like masonite or MDF. First I will try a print on a real printmaking paper to be sure the FPVC really works well enough.

I’ve finished cutting and sanding the printing surfaces and tacked them in place with double sided tape.

Plate is inked with Akui Intaglio Carbon Black. I needed a ton of ink to cover the plate. Note the 6″ brayer in the background for scale.

Here’s the first proof on newsprint. It turns out that my biggie newsprint pad just barely covered the gigantic plate – there was no paper left over for margins on the left and right. This won’t be a problem with real printmaking paper which comes in larger sizes.