Simpler Method of Making Toner Chalks
by Nik Semenoff 2005
When I first started to work
with toners for images in lithography, I also wanted a chalk like stick as I
liked the look of charcoal drawings. My first attempts to make toner chalks was
to use the traditional method used for producing pastels; a weak glue in water
binder and either rolling or extruding the wet paste. While this worked
reasonably well, I wanted a more efficient process as I had hoped to market the
chalks. I went on to make a complicated
two cylinder hydraulic press with automatic valves set to get consistent
compression on the toner powder - as no binder is used, just the heat produced
by pressure. Alas my manufacturing
adventure came to naught as I am now left with an expensive piece of equipment
and plenty of chalks to use.
This print was mostly done with tranfering from toner drawings on newsprint or Mylar. The horses were drawn on newsprint and transfered on a press to recycled plates. The main horse was drawn with Omnichrom 108-9 pencil and printed out as a key image for registering all the other colors. On a light table, a sheet of newsprint was registered by means of registrations pins and chalks were used for one of the red colors and transfered to a plate. The same newsprint was used again to place the darker tints and transfered. The background was a toner wash on Mylar transfered to three plates by using the same drawing but slightly increasing the pressure with each transfer. This is my multi-stage transfer technique that I use quite often. One of the background plates was not printed to leave some white areas.
As the printmaking techniques
made possible by drawing with the chalks are so exciting, I have published on
my website the early “pastel” method of manufacturing. I now think the problem to get the exact level
of binder might be too much for the majority of printmakers, so they would not
have this technique to use. While doing
a chalk drawing on newsprint for transfer to a plate, I thought of a much
simpler method of binding the toner and produce nice sticks. The binder one uses must not encapsulate the
particle so that it will not bind to the plate surface. In my early method I chose polyvinyl alcohol
that is melted with heat and sufficiently soluble in white gas to stick to
metal. For the new method I have decided
to use diluted shellac as it melts with heat– but I was not sure if it would
prevent bonding to the plate when using white gas. The only true test was to
try it.
Methyl or ethyl alcohols are the
solvents used to dilute shellac and are perfect wetting agents for toner. Some toners use a plastic that is affected by
alcohol so these may not need any shellac for a binder. The toner I use comes from a Laser recycling
operation and consists mostly of HP material. It is very slightly affected by
the methanol I use so I decided to try various percentages of shellac for
harder chalks.
Making the toner chalks
Mix up some alcohol solutions
that have various percentages of shellac. I chose to use commercial white
shellac sold in a two pound solution, which means 2 pounds of shellac flakes
are dissolved in a gallon of methanol. This is a standard mixture sold in paint
stores for use as a sealer on wood.
Using metric measure makes it much easier to get percentages right. I
have used 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10% shellac solutions to make chalks.
Prepare the molding system
before you mix the toner and shellac. I
suggest a shallow cardboard box top for the container. Depending on the size of the box, cut up some
strips of litho plates to be a bit wider than the depth of the container. Organize the area so you get sizes that are
appropriate to use. Cut the aluminium into suitable lengths and set aside. You will place the strips into the toner
mixture after it is poured into the container.
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A box from 4 x 5 negatives makes a good container for molding toner chalks. The wet mixture in placed inside and shaken to level the top surface. Separating metal strips are inserted to allow for clean breaks for conveniently sized chalks. Next day the chalks are removed and allowed to dry throughout to produce an effective drawing material.
In a stainless steel mixing
bowl, pour in some shellac mixture then start putting in toner powder and
stirring. The mixture should be quite
stiff but manageable. After the toner is
well mixed to get consistent chalks, pour it into the container to the depth of
one of the chalks dimensions. Now shake the container and pat the toner down
until it is level on the top. You can insert the aluminium strips as separators
along which the toner will come apart when dry.
Place the box in a warm place overnight so the alcohol can evaporate. I take the toner chalks out of the box next
morning and lay them on a piece of paper so the other three sides can be
exposed to air. This assures me that the chalks are more homogenous. There may
be a thin skin from the way the shellac dries on higher percentages of shellac,
but this will help keep your fingers clean. Depending on the roughness of your
substrate, it will come off when you draw - or you may use a coarse surface to
remove it first.
In my case, the 0% chalks
will make deep marks on recycled plates with little effort. At 2% they still do quite well on the smooth
surface. The 5% chalks are the ones I use for newsprint transfers while the 10%
pieces work on the regular ball grained aluminium plates sold for hand printing.
In fact they all work in their own way depending on the surface tooth and it
can be hard to tell the difference in the image. I have found that the “wick flow” setting
technique works well on all plates as the shellac content is not enough to
prevent bonding to the plate.
Transferring the image
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The left hand image is what is left on the newsprint after transfering to the plate. The middle image is the ink left on the plate after it was printed. It was flipped to make it easier to compare all three.The right hand image is the print. Note the light tints were I smudged the toner with a finger at the bottom of the test image.
Toner transfer techniques are
easy to use and one can get perfect registration every time. I prefer the grade of newsprint available locally
as it is nearly perfectly smooth yet accepts toner chalks well for
transfer. I use a registration pin system
so I can print a second and third color from the same sheet as I use the ghost
image for toner placement. The toner
chalk goes on like charcoal or black Conte sticks. I can blend the tones with my fingers to get
nice tints – or erase sections.
Since I use recycled plates,
the very smooth surface resists transfers so I encourage the toner to stick by
wetting the surface with DOT 3 brake fluid. This is a safe material to use as
it is made from Polyalkylene Glycol Ether.
I wet a facial tissue lightly and rub the plate in the area of the
transfer. I spread the solution to a
very thin film so I can just see the area in reflected light. The drawing is placed face down on the plate
and passed through the press under pressure. Only one pass is needed. More than enough toner will
be on the plate, yet a ghost image remains on the newsprint for registering
more colors. I prefer heat for
setting the toner. I use a common paint stripping heat gun for all my toner
setting as it is less toxic and safer than using white gas solutions. The brake fluid will evaporate with the heat
necessary to bond the toner to the plate and the image will withstand the
odorless paint thinner in the diluted silicone. This technique will also work
for traditional lithography using acidic gum etches. Since traditional
lithographers will likely use ball grained plates, the toner should transfer
very well and the brake fluid can produce problems since it will be harder to
get the very thin film.
Use a number of sheets of
newsprint instead of one thicker piece of paper. Since paper contains variable
thickness of pulp, a single sheet will reproduce these variations. A multiple
pad produces a more even output. Use 3-5 sheets of smooth paper for the pad
over the drawing.
Toner washes form Mylar
Since we
are talking about transfers, one of the other more interesting techniques calls
for toner washes done on sheets of Mylar. The toner is mixed with water
and applied with bush or airbush and allowed to dry
in a horizontal position. Most times I
place the Mylar over a partially completed print and apply toner to the areas I
want more color. After the toner dries, I use a chisel-like tool made from Popsicle
sticks, tongue depressors or sharpened round sticks to scrape off the excess
toner. One uses wooden products as these
will not mar the soft plastic, yet nicely remove the dried toner. The flat tools are made by first squaring one
end, then producing a bevel similar to a chisel by rubbing on a sheet of fine sandpaper. These are used to remove the toner from
around the image on the print. Toner
chalks drawn on frosted Mylar will allow you to see the underneath image better
than does newsprint even when used on a light table. Use the softer chalks as not all frosted Mylars have sufficient tooth to grab the toner.
While the above two transfer
techniques allows you to add colors easily to a partially completed print, they
are also used for the initial picture if one does not want to be confused with
drawing a mirror image. Different textured papers can be used with great
effect.
Another variation on toner
transfers is possible by only using light pressure for the first transfer to a
plate. The remaining toner can be
transferred by increased pressure to other plates for a multicolored print
having an image somewhat like posterization. Much will depend on the type of toner you use
as manufacturers use many different plastics to get the proper fusing
temperatures - also protect themselves from patent infringement lawsuits. You will have to experiment with your toner,
but the basic process would be the same.
Using these techniques, one professor on printmaking was having his
first year class producing multicolor editions; this was normally left for
senior students.
If you produce beautiful
prints, please send me a JPG file so I can maybe include it in the gallery on
my website at: http://homepage.usask.ca/~nis715. My e-mail address in semenoff@sask.usask.ca. Have fun!
Nik
Semenoff, Artist-in-residence,