The final step in the plate making process is Varnishing. It entails warming both a mixture of Sandrach varnish (resin and lavender oil) as well as your plate via an alcohol lamp (thank you PCC Dentistry for the 90% alcohol solution) and coating your plate evenly so as to create a protective and glossy barrier between your emulsion and the outside world.
It's not a particularly tricky process and I've had great success in the past during workshops, however, I did run into a few issues that I have not been able to sort out yet. The most disappointing was that I lost some of my image on a few of the plates - and they were some of my favorite plates. I'm hoping to figure out the cause and prevent that in the future. I'll report back here what I find out.
