Characteristics of Lithography
Since the early 1980s in Japan research into the new process of waterless lithography has led to the development of a specialised type of photoplate called Toray Plate. This process also known as siligraphy has become important since the presence of water is now no longer required for printing. In its place Toray Plates rely upon a silicone coating that remains in the negative areas after an image has been exposed and developed and it is this that repels the ink during printing.
Intended for printing at high speed on automated presses, Toray Plates can also be used for hand lithography providing that appropriate inks designed specifically for waterless lithography are used. One of the advantages of this process is the considerable detail and subtlety of mark that can be achieved, as can be seen in the Self Portrait by Alan Stones, which was first drawn in pencil on to True Grain Film and which was then exposed and printed from Toray Plate.
Meanwhile the Canadian artist Nik Semenoff at The University of Saskatchewan has been leading research into the use of conventional ball-grained plates that can be drawn and processed for waterless printing, using thinned down silicone caulking. Highly inventive in his approach, Semenoff has been responsible for a whole catalogue of techniques including the use of toner as a substitute for tusche, the development of toner chalks, toner transfers, and the formulation of his own photo sensitive emulsion. His ingenuity has also stretched to the invention of Tri-Partite Rollers for waterless lithography, Palm Presses and a method for offset printing using a direct press. In his own prints Semenoff employs a diversity of approach, often combining autographic and photographic techniques. In the print Treaty he first fabricated an artefact from acetate and tape, which was then exposed on to positive plate. Subsequent colour runs (up to twenty in total) were printed from plates developed as multiple toner transfers, gum reversals and drawing using combination of toner and Omnichrom pencil.