Hacking the Digital Print: Alternative image capture and printmaking processes with a special section on 3D printing

18. Modern Lithophanes

I’ve always been fascinated by how art and photographs both capture and are changed by light. Lithophanes are a perfect example. I love how it takes light to actually see the image—without light shining through a lithophane, there’s no image visible. Though they pre-date photography, they are still photographic: Light both creates and makes the image visible. Most historic lithophanes were made from white porcelain but new technologies like laser engraving, UV flat bed printers, and 3D printing have created a renewed interest in this historic process.

For most of this chapter we’ll be working with 3D printed lithophanes. ...