Unlike tradition etching, photopolymer etching uses no acid, no wax, and no sticky smelly stopout varnish; produces no fumes and no dust; and doesn't turn your hands yellow. In short, it's safe.
The plate is etched by projecting ultraviolet light through a transparency of your design onto a polymer-coated aluminium plate. The light hardens the exposed polymer; you wash the plate in water, removing the soft parts, and revealing the etched lines. You then print the plate in exactly the same way as a traditionally etched plate.
Photopolymer etching seems to be promoted primarily as a means of creating etchings from photos, so my first plate was based on one of my photos.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV2pRSd5k3eKtTeB5hIAfjjbQFWZCu1krai3AhyB6kwCEs9xNoWWj8F7cPTCj54fEdGqOBsMdNTBj2wPJq7YvDj7-fdlCXjV3DONHVidMOEvq-IrIkIOqmIT9OcwCQIUJjz4BIFQUA06od/s400/5652829515_dd6f28efea_o.jpg)
House on the Paseo del Prado, Havana.
Solarplate etching on paper, approx A4.
I chose this photo from my trip to Cuba because I wanted to see how much detail the etching method would pickup. Compare it with the original photo:
Almost every detail!
Then I printed the plate in different colours.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0Qq3BcbYHvq1sDHvv6X1EXTO-pjvFAj3oBySAuwjwm1Zm8KQBHSh4U4HqMCvZoeJKHWJWWG7ftq9f4tMkuz4_pnhdT5IY4Rtnf9NvOuW2OsUQGX6YZk8-jhu0tZUGOQSc0Ak3lFvXK4p/s400/5652826073_a630312e37_o.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH3uawTEleBePApS3aA_tCrA3s0Z5GQbGcd5ss7M8IaqS9y8aCmhI2uRnJUjs0Jap-4qUH9o9P8a0uDesgL0U5Oo4mmNUTch-wkbIoVH8XEvLw7xRgx61JrvjNaMkD1a_11mM-A2ISqdiC/s400/5653398042_5e05863f99_o.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3ckdrhAS0BX4YmUehuJl79JCrgMsN4X_LEqsItA80bS2ss1slO8fZk5AMzLrYGEgVBLxmPtjpXzzQAFfhV6lwTovA4yOZ50M7tl_0y7icoYy4CaAfvGSPAES-8kMqBT72d3LawYTQpzS/s400/5653394502_ec3ed672cd_o.jpg)
This last one shows one of the problems with solarplate etching: if you cut the plate to size by using a Stanley knife, the polymer coating can split from the plate at the corners, leaving a gap into which ink creeps, and then spills out when you print.
More pictures later.