Deardorff GG Grid

[Jon Manchester]

I own a Deardorff 4x5 special w/ 4x5 and 5x7 backs. The 4x5 back has the OEM GG that has the grid on it. I'm interested in finding out if anyone knows how the grid pattern is applied ? I read that if you wash the ground glass that the grid wil be removed. I would like to replicate the grid on my 5x7 back. I did apply a grid to the 5x7 glass w/ a pencil, but find it to be distracting. Not so with grid on the OEM 4x5 glass.

Thanks Jon

[lee\c]

Aren't those OEM grids applied with a release and acid etch solution? Statin Snow is making new glass and their URL is www.statinsnowglass.com/ . The washing of the glass will not remove the OEM grid. It will remove the pencil lines. You might give Dave at Statin Snow a call or email and see if they offer an OEM style of grid. Their prices seem reasonable to me.

leec

[Michael Jones]

I would be very careful washing the grid. Remember these were applied decades ago and are not made with current technology.They will come off and or fade if you rub them.

Mike

[Brian Ellis]

Satin Snow doesn't offer a screen with grid. They do have a template you can download from their web site and use to trace a grid on your screen with a pen or pencil or copy onto transparency material that is then placed over your ground glass.

[Robert A. Zeichner]

I believe that the Deardorff screens were silkscreened with clear lacquer. Where the lacquer was applied, the glass becomes clear and the resulting lines glow from the light striking them. Yes, they do wash off in water, I've been there.

What I've done to both of my Deardorff screens is to re-grind them using the method described by Dick Dokas in an article in PhotoTechniques last year. After achieving this finer surface, I create a grid pattern to my liking on my computer and print out on my Laser printer. I stick the glass over the template on my lightbox and carefully trace the lines onto the glass with a .03 mechanical pencil. It works great, and if the glass gets dirty, I can wash and reline without much trouble.

[Hans Berkhout]

I have used graph paper, metric or otherwise, in same fashion as posted above.