Photo polymer plate 'v' gel for hand prints!

[River Splint]

Hi,
I make lots of silver clay jewellery with hand & foot prints and currently use the imagepac gel sachets to make my stamps. I have had a reasonable degree of success with the gel packs, but inconsistent results with the detail on the prints, the lines on the hands and feet. Sometimes they show, sometimes they don't!

I was wondering how the gel packs compare to the photo-polymer plates for showing detail and if they are better what type of plates you would recommend I try.

Any advice on exposure times for either the gel or the plates would also be very well received, I have a Teressa Collins UV light box which houses 4 x 9w uv bulbs.

Thank you! xx

[Lucie]

I personally wouldn't bother with the gel - far too much fuss.
Stick with polymer plates. Give Metal Clay Ltd a call and they will advise you on the best ones to buy for handprint and footprint jewellery.

Every UV light box is different, so nobody will be able to give you the exact best exposure time for your specific box.
Mine only takes 30 seconds, but other people seem to expose for several minutes.

The best thing to do is make yourself up a test strip. See instructions here: http://www.silverclayart.com/How%20to%20Make%20Photopolymer%20Plates.pdf

Detail for handprints and footprints should be fine as long as you're not trying to make them too small. As a rough guide, no individual line should be smaller than 1mm.

I hope that helps :)

[mikethejeweller]

Hi I use the ones from cooksons and they seem fine although you need to be careful with small parts like the end of fingers etc as they can easily detach from the plastic backing.89758976