A method of reproducing paintings

Abstract: The process wherein the reproduction has a relief surface which imitates the relief surface of the painting or the like comprises applying heat and pressure simultaneously to an assembly consisting of a mold (6) of the painting, a coloured sheet (10) for colouring the reproduction and a substrate (12) to retain the reproduction. Subsequent to this step, shock cooling is applied.

Description: This invention relates generally to a new and improved process for reproducing an original painting or the like, and more particularly, to an improved process for reproducing an oil or acrylic painting or the like, from the original artwork to produce a reproduction which has a relief surface and texture to it which is identical to the relief surface and texture of the original artwork and which maintains good colour integrity. Various methods have been prepared to copy or reproduce an oil or acrylic painting or the like, in order to produce a copy which is the same as or similar to the original. Such copies generally fall within two categories. The first category includes copies of the artwork which lack surface texture or relief dimensions of the original. The second category includes copies which attempt to copy the relief dimensions or surface texture of the original artwork. It is to the second category to which this invention is directed. The first category includes such copies broadly classified as artistic polychrome prints, photographs and the like and while these may be produced quite inexpensively, and while they exhibit good colour integrity, they lack the relief dimensions or surface texture of the original and thus are not as acceptable as would be a reproduction which duplicated faithfully the surface texture of the original. The second category has in fact met with limited success although the quality of these copies in reproductions has not been high. The process for producing such copies generally involve the production of a type of plastic transparent layer which is given texture by using a mold made from an original painting (see patents DE-PS 494,894; FR-PS NO 1,521,466; DE-AS NO 2,018,699 and DE-OS NO 2,352,966). With these processes, problems arose with colour fidelity and the effects created by the transparent relief layer. Attempts have been made to overcome these problems as shown in French patent 1,493,516; French patent 1,548,337 and Canadian patent 990,506 granted on June 8, 1976 to Dimension Weld Int. Corp. which shows the use of a thermoplastic transparent sheet. More recently, a process was disclosed in U.S. patent 4,308,224 which issued on December 29, 1981 and which was developed to produce such reproductions of reasonable price and of acceptable fidelity. This patent discloses a process which uses a relief mold taken from the original and a thermoplastic foil imprinted with the colour picture corresponding to the original. The foil, while being heated, was placed with its imprinted side down on the relief mold and a textile layer placed over the foil. The combination was then heated causing the flowable component of the textile layer to flow into the relief surface of the mold, thus duplicating the texture of the original painting. However, this process only partially duplicated the relief dimensions of the original artwork and also, after standing, the texture tended to reduce. Accordingly, it is an object of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to at least partially overcome these disadvantages by providing an improved process for reproducing paintings and the like which reproduces the artwork in colour integrity, relief surface and texture, and is quite cost effective. It is a further object of a preferred embodiment of this invention to provide an improved process for producing a reproduction of a painting and the like, which reproduction has a relief surface and texture faithful to the original artwork. A further object of a preferred embodiment of the invention is to provide a process for producing a reproduction of a painting and the like which produces good quality reproductions of consistent quality and which is susceptible to industrial application. To this end, in one of its aspects, the present invention provides a method for producing a reproduction of a painting, said reproduction having a relief surface texture imitating the relief surface of said painting, said process comprising the steps of applying heat and pressure to an assembly consisting of a mold of said painting, a coloured sheet for colouring said reproduction, and a substrate to retain said reproduction, characterized in that the method includes the step of then immediately thereafter shock cooling the assembly by contacting said assembly with cooling plates to permanently retain said relief surface texture on said substrate. Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing of the assembly used in the process of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic drawing of an alternate assembly used in the process of the present invention. FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the reproduction and mold subsequent to the application of heat and pressure thereto. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The first step of the process of the present invention is to make a suitable mold or negative from the original painting or the like. The mold is generally made of silicone rubber and is quite hard and acts as a negative for the production of the reproductions at a subsequent stage. The mold may be made by any well known process. One example is as follows. Molten mold material is poured over an original painting and then allowed to set or harden and dry for about 48 hours. Since the mold is made from the original painting, it will retain all the surface texture of the original artwork to impart such surface texture to subsequently produced reproductions. The mold may also be made of any suitable material. A preferred material is a two component RTV silicone rubber which uses silicone rubber as the base, and dibutyl tin dilaurate (DBT) as the catalyst. This material exhibits a viscosity of about 50,000 centipoise and has a specific gravity of about 1.47. Its hardness on the standard durometer of about 60 and a tensile strength of about 56/800 kg/cm² allows it to withstand the pressures applied in the process. The material has an elongated percentage of about 130, a tear resistance of 7 to 140 kg/cm with a demonstrated wear shrinkage of about 0.2 to about 0.6. This provides good dimensional stability following multiple uses. Colour separations are then prepared from the original painting using any well known method such as the Alexander method. A photograph of the painting is taken and a coloured positive transparently produced. The colour separation (using a four colour or a six colour or more, if required separation) is prepared using an offset process and then printed on a PVC coated sheet of about 300 microns in thickness. Colour separations using a process camera, may also be made directly from the original artwork, without making a transparency, slide or the like. Basically, the original artwork is photographed using three filters, each of which lets through a preselected portion of light which is reflected from the image. The red filter is used for cyan printing; the magenta filter is used for green printing; and the blue filter is used for yellow painting. Black is the fourth colour and is used to make the greys and shadows neutral. The separations off the camera are continuous tones and a half tone screen is used to print the image. Any corrections are made to the filter by reducing the size of the dots with chemicals (referred to as dot etching) and after the etching process is complete, cromalins and press proofs are made. Referring now to figure 1, there is shown a schematic representative of the method of producing the reproductions, by the preferred embodiment. A hydraulic press generally indicated as 22 is used to produce the actual reproductions. The press 22 basically comprises a table 4, a heating plate 14 and a cooling plate 18 (shown in phantom lines). The press is capable of applying heat to the assembly by moving the heating plate 14 via pistons 16 affixed to housing 20, or could alternately, (as shown in figure 2), move table 4 upwardly to contact stationary heating plate 14. Heating plate 14 and cooling plate 18 are capable of moving laterally into or out of position to contact the assembly. Preferably, a soft silicone mat 2 is placed over table 4. While not necessary, it is advisable as the soft silicone mat 2 will tend to equalize the applied pressure to produce a better quality product. Mold 6 is then placed on top of the mat 2 with the relief side 8 of mold 6 in the up position. The printed PVC coated sheet 10 which has been printed with the applicable colour separations as explained hereinbefore, is placed on the top of the relief side 8 of mold 6, in perfect registration which is of course essential in any reproductive process. Sheet 10 may be of any suitable material and PVC is preferred. It is preferably from about 2 to about 300 microns in thickness. One particularly useful material is KLOCKNEL (trade mark) PR 278/09 0/200 which has a matte 4/3 of 12 gauge and is a rigid highly impact modified PVC/PVAC copolymer. The inks used to colour the sheet 10 may be any well known type but should be of high quality. Preferred inks are those demonstrating high scuff resistance and these designed to run on offset lithographic presses allowing an open time on the press of about 45 minutes and a drying time on the substrate of about 24 to about 36 hours. In addition to the four process colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), special colours may be mixed as required. The inks must be heat resistant to prevent damage during the pressing operation and should be of the fast drying type. A piece of canvas 12 to be used as the substrate for the reproduction is then placed on top of the sheet 10. It is preferred that the canvas be coated with a flexible PVC laminate with a cotton sheeting on the back. A suitable formulation of a canvas is about 78kg/m² (23.0 oz/sq.yd.) of total weight with about 54.2 kg/m² (16.0 oz/sq.yd.) of vinyl coating and a fabric back of about 18.3 kg/m² (5.4 oz/sq.yd.) Once the assembly has been completed, heat and pressure are applied to the assembly by using the heat plate 14. It is possible to accomplish this by two different means. First, heat plate 14 can be moved downwardly by the action of pistons 16 in housing 20 to apply heat and pressure to the assembly and in this embodiment, table 4 is stationary. An alternative embodiment is for table 4 to rise up and compress the assembly between movable table 4 and stationary heat plate 14. Heat is applied by heat plate 14 which applies heat to the top of the assembly, that is, the canvas at a temperature of from about 160°C to about 175°C. When these temperatures are applied, it has been found that the temperature of the sheet 10 reaches about 130°C. It has been found that heat alone is not sufficient to produce the quality reproductions. Pressure must also be applied simultaneously with the heat and depending upon the size and type of picture, the pressure will be from about 0.138 - 1.24 GPa (10 to about 90 tons per square inch). For the average size picture, application of heat and pressure for about 60 to about 180 seconds is sufficient. Upon the application of heat and pressure, the sheet 10 melts as well as the PVC on the canvas substrate 12. The texture of the mold 6 is then imparted directly to the sheet and canvas which are now bonded and fused together. This type of lamination effectively transfers the relief surface of the mold to the reproduction as shown in figure 3. Specifically, when heat is applied, the PVC coated sheet 10 and the PVC on the canvas substrate 12 become soft and flexible. As the pressure is applied, the backside of the PVC coated sheet 10 and the PVC on the canvas 12 are welded together and the thus bonded PVC coated sheet and canvas (as shown in figure 3) is pressed against the negative relief side of the mold 6. The PVC material covers and fills the negative hollows in the mold 6 which duplicate the surface texture and brush strokes of the original artwork. The heat plate 14 is then removed from contact with the canvas 12. This is done by either moving the heat plate 14 upwardly away from canvas 12 by retracting piston 16 or by lowering the table 4. The heat plate 14 is then moved laterally away and cooling plate 18 (shown in dotted lines) is moved into the same position occupied previously by heat plate 14. Cooling plate 18 is then brought into contact with the assembly either by moving the pistons 16 downwardly or raising table 4 upwardly. It moves in exactly the same manner as heat plate 14. The assembly is then subjected to cooling by contact with the cooling plate 18 at about 0°C for about 30 to about 75 seconds. Subsequent to such contact, cooling plate 18 is moved away and the reproduction is removed and the mold is then cooled and is ready to be used again. It has been found that the cooling step is an essential feature of the invention. If the assembly is not subjected to a cooling step, the texture imparted to the reproduction, that is, the surface dimensions on the canvas, tend to be lost. The reproduction will go flat due to the rebound effect or the memory effect of the materials. By applying a deliberate cooling step, to "shock" the reproduction, such rebound has been effectively elminated and the surface texture remains permanently. This cooling or shocking step is different than that disclosed in U.S. patent 4,308,224 as explained hereinafter. It has been found that by shocking the reproduction by cooling, the rebound effect or memory of the base material is not seen thus allowing for a reproduction which comes closed to duplicating the original artwork. In order to demonstrate the improvements of the present process over the prior art, a comparison, study was made between a reproduction made in accordance with the process of U.S. patent 4,308,24 and the present process. The following parameters were applied. STEPS PROCESS OF U.S. PATENT 4,308,224 NEW PROCESS 1. Machine Temperature 169°C-172°C 169°C-172°C 2. Temperature Of Mold 130°C-133°C 130°C-133°C 3. Processing Time For Heat Plate 90 sec. 180 sec. 4. Processing Time For Cooling Plate none 90 sec. 5. Processing Temperature For Cooling Plate none -5°C 6. Processing Pressure and Heat Plate 0.414 GPa (30 tons) 0.552 GPa (40 tons) 7. Processing Pressure and Cooling Plate none 0.552 GPa (40 tons) The texture height in the reproduction made in accordance with U.S. patent 4,308,224 including the height of the material measured 1.27 mm (0.050 inches) whereas the texture height of the reproduction of the present process including the height of the material measured 1.905 mm (0.075 inches). The texture height of the prior art reproduction not including the material measured 0.635 mm (0.025 inches) whenever the texture height of the reproduction of the present process without the material measured 1.27 mm (0.050 inches). It is clear from the results that the present process produces a reproduction having about a 66-67% improvement in the texture height than in the prior art.

Claims: A method for producing a reproduction of a painting, said reproduction having a relief surface texture imitating the relief surface of said painting, said process comprising the steps of applying heat and pressure to an assembly consisting of a mold (6) of said painting, a coloured sheet (10) for colouring said reproduction, and a substrate (12) to retain said reproduction, characterized in that the method includes the step of then immediately thereafter shock cooling the assembly by contacting said assembly with cooling plates (18) to permanently retain said relief surface texture on said substrate (12). A method as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that said mold (6) is made from an oil or acrylic painting. A method as claimed in claim 2 characterized in that said mold (6) is made of silicone rubber. A method as claimed in claim 2 characterized in that said mold (6) is made by pouring molten mold material over said painting, allowing said molten material to set and harden and removing said mold (6). A method as claimed in claim 3 characterized in that said mold (6) is a two component silicone rubber mold (6) made of a silicone rubber base and a dibutyl tin dilaurate catalyst. A method as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that said coloured sheet (10) is prepared by first preparing colour separations from said painting or the like, and printing said colour separations on a PVC sheet (10). A method as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that said heat and pressure and cooling are applied using a hydraulic press (22). A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said assembly is shock cooled at a temperature of about 0°C for about 30 seconds to 75 seconds. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising the steps of: (a) placing a silicone mat (2) on a table (4) of a hydraulic press (22); (b) placing said mold (6) on the top of said silicone mat (2) with the relief side (8) up; (c) placing said coloured sheet (10) on the top of the relief side (8) of said mold (6); (d) placing said substrate (12) on the top of said coloured sheet (10); (e) applying heat and pressure simultaneously to said assembly; characterized in that the method includes the step of (f) then immediately shock cooling said assembly to permanently retain said relief surface texture on said substrate (12). A method as claimed in claim 9 characterized in that said coloured sheet (10) is a printed PVC sheet (10). A method as claimed in claim 10 characterized in that said printed PVC sheet (10) has been printed with the applicable colour separation corresponding to said original painting. A method as claimed in claim 9 characterized in that said substrate (12) is a canvas sheet coated with a flexible PVC laminate with a cotton backing. A method as claimed in claim 9 characterized in that said heat is applied at about 160°C to about 175°C and said pressure is from about 0.138 to 1.24 GPa (10 to about 90 tons per sq. inch). A method as claimed in claim 13 characterized in that said heat and pressure are applied for about 60 to about 180 seconds. A method as claimed in claim 9 characterized in that said shock cooling is applied by contacting said assembly with a cooling plates (18) at a temperature of about 0°C for about 30 to about 75 seconds. A method as claimed in claim 11 characterized in that said PVC sheet is printed using heat resistant inks. A method as claimed in claim 16 characterized in that said inks are fast drying inks.

Inventors: LANG STEFAN, LANG, STEFAN
Applicants: ARTAGRAPH REPRODUCTION TECH, ARTAGRAPH REPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B44F11
IPC codes: B44C3, B44F11, B32B38, B29C43