Laser Cut Pumpkins

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Tonight I had a really good session printing my first laser cut acrylic plate. I used Akua Intaglio Carbon Black ink on damp Rising Stonehenge ripped to 32″ x 36″. The acrylic plate worked much better than the FPVC plates I was using before, but I did have to take care with the baren because the cut edges are hard and sharp and could potentially tear the paper.

Crystal clear acrylic plate ready for ink.

As I began to ink the plate, I realized immediately how acrylic is a better plate material than FPVC. The acrylic is very smooth and this makes it easy to apply the ink and transfer it to the paper. The fact that the acrylic is clear is a huge plus. Once the plate is fully inked, I can hold it up to the light and inspect for pinholes. The first time I did this, it was clear that the plate was far from ready. It was such a time saver to apply the ink once before printing. With the FPVC plates, I often have to lift the corner of the print a number of times to reapply ink to cover pinholes.

Here’s the first print from the laser cut acrylic plate.

Here’s a view of the plate sitting on my large “press” which consists of a sheet of 4′ x 8′ melamine and a baren.

Inked plate with first print drying in the background.

The new print dries on a sheet of masonite.

Laser Cutter

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I’m trying a new approach to making giant relief plates. Instead of cutting FPVC by hand with a jig saw, rotary tool, and file, I am using a laser cutter to burn a plate from a sheet of clear acrylic. Goodbye dust and noise and goggles and respirators. Hello fire!

Laser cutters are huge and very expensive. Fortunately Metrix Create: Space in Seattle has one available for hire at really reasonable rates. They charge by the minute, with rates varying depending on your membership level. My 24″ x 30″ plate had about 700″ of cuts and we were cutting at about 10mm/s, so the whole job took about 30 minutes. From reading the laser manufacturer’s documentation, it appears that it can cut my 3/32″ acrylic at 40mm/s which would reduce the cutting time and the cost dramatically.

Today I cut the plate and glued the pieces together. If all goes well I am hoping to pull a print tomorrow!

Metrix Create: Space on Capitol Hill near the intersection of Broadway and Roy. In their own words, “Part techshop, part hackerspace, part coffeeshop”. Metrix Create: Space has all sorts of goodies including laser cutters and 3D printers.

Matrix Create: Space is well stocked for all of your hacking/making/building needs. It is a great place to hang out and meet other builders and the staff are super friendly, knowledgable, and helpful.

This monster is a 100W FullSail laser cutter. It handles material up to 32″ x 45″. Cuts acrylic and wood like butter at about 1000 dpi.

Lauren loads my sheet of acrylic into the laser cutter.

Laser cutter in action!

Here’s what the plate looks like fresh from the laser cutter. I am using clear acrylic. The blue that you see is a protective film.

Closeup of the plate after cutting. The clear acrylic sparkles like jewels.

At this point I have just started to cement the small, isolated pieces.

I am using acrylic cement from TAP Plastics to assemble the plate. The syringe bottle shown on the left is a huge help in spreading the cement and containing the fumes. The great thing about the syringe is that you can run it along the joints and they will draw in the cement through capillary action.

Acrylic cement contains methylene chloride and other nasty chemicals that dissolve your brain and latex and nitrile gloves. Use PVA gloves and be sure you have plenty of ventilation!

Closeup of the fully assembled plate.

Another liferoom figure

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We just completed a three-week session in the life room. Again, I felt I didn’t have nearly enough time because of my part-time status. Still, I was happy with the drawing and feel I am getting better at creating a likeness in the face. One area where I struggled was in deciding which parts of the back were in shadow and which were in light.

The initial block in. Note the list of work items on the right side.

I reduced the block in and transferred it to a fresh sheet of paper.

By the end of the three week pose I had the figure mostly rendered.

Yma

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Just finished a drawing of Yma. I didn’t really have enough time to do the face or a careful rendering, but I think the drawing shows potential.

I’ve drawn and sculpted Yma many times over the past four years. This drawing was a four week pose. I got about seven 3-hour sessions due to my part-time status.

Giant Pumpkin Print

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I think I may have thrown my back out over the weekend printing the giant pear print. My back was so sore on Monday that I didn’t go in to the atelier. Today after some physical therapy I was feeling better, so I printed the giant pumpkin for the first time. The print looks great from a distance, but has a few soft edges because the paper was too damp. I think it is probably still a keeper. Hope my back is ok tomorrow.

I’m printing in the garage because there is not enough room in my studio.

The giant pumpkin print is 24″ x 30″.

Giant Pears Production Print

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Today I made my first production print from the giant pear plate! It took me about an hour to create one print, but it is beautiful.

The print used Akua Intaglio carbon black ink on damp Rising Stonehenge paper. Since the plate vastly exceeds the dimensions of my humble etching press, I went old school, resorting to the Akua pin press and a baren. I had to peel pack the paper many times in order to reapply ink in areas with pinholes. Given the amount of work involved, I am expecting this to be a very limited edition.

The production print dries underneath the first proof.

I’m trying a new method of drying that flattens the print without disturbing the ink and the embossing. The wet print is pinned to a piece of sheetrock using push pins spaced every three inches.

 

Giant pumpkin plate finished

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After another cutting session, the 24″ x 30″ pumpkin plate is ready to print. I probably spent about 4 hours cutting and sanding and filing and then another hour on the plate assembly. Can’t wait to print this one!

Adding fine edge detail by hand with a file.

The pumpkin plate has a lot of free floating pieces. I’m using double-sided tape to hold the pieces in place so that I can remove them if I need to make adjustments to the edge contours. In this picture I am trimming the tape so that it doesn’t extend into the non-printing area and possibly stick to the paper.

This is the biggest piece, covered with double-sided tape and ready to be placed on the backing plate.

These FPVC plates are quite striking before they are inked.

I love the shadows on the new white plate. Seems a shame to cover it with ink.