Here's the abstract from my Ph.D thesis. If you want to see the thesis in full, then please contact me.

The paradigms of printmaking are changing. Digital practices are being used alongside established methods, simultaneously introducing a new understanding of imagery through new media and approaches. This has opened avenues of research into the practices and processes which synthesise the digital and photomechanical aspects of fine print. This research project examines and extends new practices through the use and development of photomechanical printmaking contextualised through an understanding of C19th photography and contemporary digital practices. In particular, it focuses on the celebrated but neglected Woodburytype.

The Woodburytype was heralded for its photographic appearance and its ability to provide fine detail and continuous tonality. These values were established as virtues of the photographic medium early in photography's history. The Woodburytype's ability to print these qualities made it much sought after for both its formal values and photographic connotations. The process subsequently fell out of practice due to practical problems. These historically contingent qualities are the reasons why the Woodburytype is still highly regarded. The development of this practical contemporary Woodburytype model must also involve an examination of the historical circumstances of its values. The creation of a digital application of Woodburytype is both critical of this legacy, and it extends the processes which were developed through this method.

The project has taken as a base line a critical approach to the acknowledged qualities of Woodburytype and has searched for ways to extend the model. This employs a methodology that includes 'practice-based' methods and emphasises empirical aspects of this as well as critical aspects. New ways to use digital fine print have been created in order to develop a continuation of the historical values of photomechanical processes. The project addressed this problem of creating digital printed artwork through the Woodburytype derived notion that it translates the two-dimensional tonal gradation present in a photograph into a three-dimensional model in gelatine. Computer numerical controlled (CNC) routers and the novel application of polymer plates were both found to be capable of holding a relief image. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of the two applications for different images, printing conditions and uses, when compared to each other. However, both offer advantages over traditional methods.

The digital technologies, combined with a critical approach to photographic imagery, encouraged the exploration of added dimensionality and alternative material application. This was achieved through the creation of a body of contemporary post-photographic images. These resulted in prints, including a suite of prints made during a Center for Book Arts' fellowship in New York. The method employed embraces both digital means and older material values that allow new interpretations to deal with two and three dimensional prints integrated with some of the theoretical areas of digital photographic imaging.