Three-color rubber print

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The three-color rubber printing according to Hans Watzek was a special further development of the multiple rubber printing process around 1900.

technology

Since a dried gum picture adheres so firmly to the paper that several coats are possible, different layers of color can be printed on top of each other. In order to achieve a natural color effect, the Viennese professor Hans Watzek used three-color rubber printing for the first time in 1897. As a starting point, three negatives for the primary colors red, yellow and blue are made with the help of different color filters, with the sequence continuing with red and yellow starting with the color blue. These three black and white negatives correspond to the respective light value of the three basic colors. Since a single rubber print is created from the various negatives, it is important to ensure that the subject and the camera position remain unchanged. "These three negatives are printed one on top of the other in the corresponding colors and then provide an image that [theoretically] reproduces the colors of the natural object."

method

According to Watzek, the paper has to be prepared first, then marks are applied to the negatives to bring the three colored prints exactly into line. So-called glaze colors are used for the individual layers, which do not completely cover the underlying colors, so that corresponding mixed colors result. Watzek first printed, developed, and dried the negative for yellow. He copied a red glaze with the red negative onto the yellow picture. He printed a thin layer of Parisian blue over the sheet with the orange and red tones. If all paints and exposure times were taken correctly, the picture reproduced the colors approximately in the natural mixture.

Advantages and disadvantages

Compared to three-color printing with a press, rubber printing offers the option of correcting the color matching with one or more additional prints. Henneberg points out that the picture can be ready after 3–4 prints, but sometimes 10–15 layers are necessary to achieve a good result.

The three-color rubber printing developed by Hans Watzek was very time-consuming and was rarely used. With the spread of the autochrome process developed by the Lumière brothers , it completely lost its importance.

Literature and source

  • Johannes Gaedicke: The rubber print. (Direct pigment printing). Instructions for amateurs and specialist photographers (= Photographic Library. Vol. 10, ZDB -ID 980696-9 ). Gustav Schmidt, Berlin 1906, pp. 62–65.

Web links

New and old techniques of etching and fine printing: Chapter rubber printing instructions and description of the process