Making your own base for photopolymer plates October 31, 2007
At the shop we have been going back and forth over whether to use wood backed magnesium (metallic) or photopolymer plates for printing. We have heard a lot of good and bad things about both and many people have told us that its really something you need to try and see.
Luckily the company we use for magnesium plates (Hodgins Engraving), located in Batavia NY, will cut and mount the metal onto wood blocks to make the design type high. However, when using photopolymer plates you will need a base to raise the design to type high. The most popular base currently on the market in my opinion is the Boxcar base from Boxcar Press. Standard bases from Boxcar start at $150 for a 4.5″ x 7″ base all the way up to $1150 for a 24″ x 24″ base. They also sell deep relief bases for use in conjuction with their deep relief photopolymer plates on platten presses.
The question is: Is it possible to make your own base?
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