Gravure printing is a process technology that uses the plate with the graphic part lower than the blank part to print. Gravure printing plate is mostly copper. The early copper intaglio was carved by hand. Engraving copperplate printing has existed in ancient China, but it is not as exquisite as the copperplate printing introduced from the West in modern times.
Engraving gravure is a process technology that uses metal (mainly copper plate and steel plate) as plate material to carve concave pictures and texts on metal plate plane to make gravure, and apply ink and print on gravure. There are two kinds of Gravure Engraving directly by workers or by hand or mechanical engraving on the metal plate coated with acid resistant and anti-corrosion agent, and then the gravure is made by chemical corrosion method.
Modern engraving gravure dates back to the middle of the 15th century. It is said that in Florentine, Italy, there was a goldsmith named maso finiguerra, who inadvertently discovered the corrodibility of metals, and then invented the technology of making gravure by chemically etching metal plates. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that famous paintings were printed in engraving intaglio in Europe.
The introduction of western modern engraving gravure into China can be divided into two systems. In the south, the Italian school was introduced into China through Japan; in the north, it was the American school, which was introduced in 1908 when the Beijing Branch printing office was first established.
1、 Etching gravure by hand
Manual engraving corrosion gravure is a process technology of engraving the original text on the metal plate by hand and then etching it with chemical etching solution to make gravure and print. Its plate making technology has been recorded in detail in the copper engraving Xiaoji written by Wang Zhenfu in 1889. Now it is extracted for reference. Its technological process is shown in the figure: grinding plate → waxing → hook drawing → upper plate → wax etching → rotten copper → revision
The method is to use the flat and thin copper plate, grind it with solid wood charcoal, bake the plate on the charcoal fire, wipe with yellow wax, brush the soft wool board evenly, and listen to it when it is cool. On one side, the cellophane is first hooked with a needle knife. When it is hooked, half a layer of broken paper is drawn, and then the paper is covered with red powder. After rubbing on the back of the paper, the powder falls on the wax surface, and then it is slightly dried on the fire. When the powder is firmly adhered, and it is still cool, the knife can be moved. Remove the wax from the red powder, and move the knife slowly by looking at the microscope. At the end of the publication, the plate was placed on a flat place, filled with rotten copper medicine, and after an hour or two, the copper was rotten deep. Wash the liquid medicine, wipe off the yellow wax, and print the sample sheet for proofreading. If there is any omission, it can be added; if there is any error, it can be corrected. If it is not clean when grinding, there are fine lines and black silk on the printed paper; when the wax is applied unevenly, there is a very small hole, and then it becomes a black spot after printing; or when the wax surface is occasionally damaged, it will become an ink ball. Cover the liquid medicine see copper is rotten, so also. If you know when you don't fill it with liquid medicine, you can keep it, but you can't go down. After the plate is finished, it should be cleaned and stored to avoid rust and bruise. As for printing, it also depends on machines. The difference between yin and Yang characters.
Grinding plate: red copper into a thin plate, the thickness depends on the size, the thickness of only one point; with solid wood charcoal grinding, so that its Aurora pure degree. Grinding is not allowed: the first grinding cross grinding, the second grinding direct grinding. It is necessary to wait for the full version to grind before changing hands. Then the light on the plate will be the same. If you grind it randomly, the light will be scattered, and your eyes will shine when you engrave it. Water is used for rough grinding, oil is used for fine grinding, or a round broom with felt is dipped in oil and rubbed.
Waxing: with copper plate on the charcoal fire (slow fire) furnace to heat, will wax wipe. Version hot wax close, with a soft board brush (such as paste brush brush brush hair length half inch, wood handle round and under flat width), brush wax evenly. Brush method is the same as grinding method. The wax must be very thin and even. If there is ash and sand sticking into the wax, it will be granulated. It is easy to take off here and form deep holes after rotten copper. After waxing, it should be cool for a few moments to make the wax old.
Hook drawing: cover the drawing with cellophane, and nail the four corners with cover nails (as shown in the figure: cover nails for etching gravure by hand). After nailing, hold the needle knife (as shown in the picture: the needle knife used for manual engraving and etching gravure), and draw with a visual microscope (as shown in the picture: the visual microscope for manual engraving and etching gravure) to make a fine hook drawing and break the paper into half a layer; once the paper meets the hot air in the mouth, it is not even, so it must be small. For this, it is best to cover the paper close to you. When it comes to the hook, use trilateral plate for parallel straight line (as shown in Figure: Trilateral plate for etching gravure by hand), and curve gauge for curve (as shown in the figure: the curve gauge for manual engraving and etching gravure), and the flexible strand gauge (as shown in the figure: the movable strand gauge for manual engraving corrosion gravure) is the same as drawing, but the drawing is done with pencil and ink pen, and here the iron pen is used; the drawing can be reached by one stroke, and there are two hooks. Cellophane is white and thick in the west, and yellow and thin in Japan. Its price is only one tenth of the price. However, it can be used as much as possible. Cover nail copper surface iron foot, face diameter 45 minutes, foot length 23 minutes. The needle knife is about 4 inches long. It has a round wooden handle. The head is inlaid with a copper sleeve. A needle is inserted in the middle. There is a screw pattern on the inner surface of the needle knife. It can be turned tightly without shaking. The microscope is divided into three sections. The bottom base is very heavy. The middle section is of the upper and lower curvilinear ruler type, and the lower jack is in the upper set of microscope. It can rotate flexibly and stretch as far as possible, so as to save time and again to move the lower base. The trilateral plate is made of solid wood, with different sizes and about one minute thick. There are round holes on the top to facilitate finger movement. The chords and chords are placed. Press and hold the lower plate. When moving the upper plate, the parallel line is the most uniform. There are many types of curvilinear gauges, which can be used along with the drawings. The best quality is clear angle and so on. If the glass is transparent, see the figure below. Two strands of flexible gauge can be opened and closed, and one half can be moved and screwed tightly.
First Edition: after the pattern of cellophane hook, wipe with cotton sticky red powder, then the powder into the paper grain, bright and impressive, if there is leakage, it is easy to see. Cover this paper on the surface of the plate wax, and wipe the back of the paper with a smooth round head, then the powder falls on the wax. However, the powder is easy to wipe off, the version of fire