Tuesday, November 2, 2010

damn

Worked in the darkroom open to close on Sunday. ALL DAY.
With no prints to show for it.

The emulsion/prints lifted off in the developing process. My conclusion is that emulsion needs time to set. I left emulsion in the darkroom for 2 days for my last printing, and there was no lifting. It all stayed intact. Then Sunday, I did same day emulsion and printing. It was dry but no go. I think it needs time to settle. I checked the liquid light directions and it said you can print on it still tacky, so I figured a just-dried surface would work. Nope.

new hints to remember:
1. dont use darkroom boxes, canvas needs circulating air for drying
2. bring a fan for small spaces
3. at least 24 hour settling period for emulsion, to two days (however 2 days did show some greying in the emulsion from time)
4. Apply emulsion very thickly and let sit flat for about ten minutes before hanging on a wall to dry longer.
5. If print comes out like shit, you still want to make use of that canvas and expensive oil gesso, so run the garbage print in hot water and rub the image off. Let dry and re-use. 

This was a sad day because I thought I had finally figured this out.

Already have new emulsion "setting".

No comments:

Post a Comment