So I decided to try out making my own Plates, but before I get to that a bit of history. I started printing my letterpress pieces from magnesium plats mounted type high and fro some time it was work ok. I was so early in my stage of learning letterpress at the time that I didn’t know everything. At one point I had a couple jobs that were giving me problems with ink coverage and being the person I am did not like the way it came out. After search for a cause I ended up checking out the height of my plates and they were way off from type high. I talked to the company that was making the plates and they said that because there was not a high demand for type high plates that the guy that made the wood for them didn’t “care” anymore about getting it just right. So I decided to try out photopolymer plate. After spending 70 bucks for one ganged up 8.5×11 plate, I thought it would be best if I try and make one myself. I really like to try and make things myself.

After some research of what very little of is out there, I jumped right in and gave it a go.

Here is how I do it.

Preparation

First I make a negative on transparency paper, I have found that its best to double up the print so that the black on the page is dark enough so that the light doesn’t pass through. I use double sided removable tape just in case I need to align the images better. I cut the image out and position the negative on top of the polymer plate material (Side note I purchase my plates from Boxcar). I again position the negative with the same double sided tape. I tried to use just that to expose the plate but found that the light would seep under the negative. During my research I found that the expensive plate makers used suction to keep it all into place, or at least thats what I gathered. So I purchased the least expensive food saver I could find, called a seal a meal.

Exposing

I then put together a temporary box together with a couple black lights from Lowes and a power strip to turn it on and off. When I get more time I will make one out of wood. The first thing I did was a test strip to find out how much time was needed to expose the plate properly. I found that around 5 minutes worked pretty good from me. Im still working on the best time but I know that 2 minutes when washed out would break down to easily. With the boxed closed and the plate in I turned on the strips on and exposed it for 5 minutes.

Washout

Using a car wash brush I scrubbed the plate under warm water until I reached the plastic backing. Be careful not to scrub to hard or you will ruin any fine lines. If you expose your plate to little the fine lines will scrub off easily, expose it to much and the lines will be to thick. The image will start to form as you scrub the unexposed polymer away.

I then wiped the plate with a sponge and dry it with a hair drier. Finally I expose both sides of the plate to cure it, not to long a couple minutes on both sides. Thats about it, I will post some pictures of this plate once I print it.