The following post is a letter describing the process which I used in
my current uploaded photographs, and the Arrhenphobia series which can
be viewed as a presentation.
I was not sure where to put this, alternative process or digital. I
finally decided on alternative process, because the process itself is
not in the digital darkroom. If the Mod feels that this is
inapropriate, please note my disagreement and relocate.
I also want to point out that I am not trying to replace polaroid! the
results an process is similar, but not at all the same.
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The reason that you did not find much is because I am only one of two
people that i know of anyway that have any sizeable body of work. A
NYC fashion photographer I knew named Jessica worked with a solvent
based inkjet transfer, I used water. My process is paper specific,
hers was not. Mine looks more like a polaroid, hers have a more
"flaked" apperance. Both our processes were more successful than
previous experimenters as the coating, or "emulsion" was lifted and
transfered, and not the ink alone, so, more ink is transfered more
accuratly and evenly, resulting in rich blacks, something most
alcohol/turpintine/acetone processes lack.
Jessica kept her method top secret, I don't.
I will tell you how I did it, I do not know if the paper is still
available, and if it is if it has or has not been reformulated.
In college I was for a period trying new papers, I found the
strathmore line of inkjet papers. These papers had a very thick
coating. One particularly so, Strathmore Photo Matte, which appeared
to be made from a gelatine.
When I printed on it, the blacks became very buldged with lots of
gain, resulting in a speckled appearance. To remidy i tried washing
the print under the faucet. It worked to some degree, and gave it an
interesting bleached effect as well, though, I was not satisfied with
the results.
However, I did notice that the gelatine coating was swolen and appeard
to lift from the page. It had a slippery, slimey feel and appeared
thicker than it was when it was dry. If scratched with a fingernail,
the coaiting and ink would come off onto your finger in what looked
very similar to household gelatine.
In the previous semester John Paul Caponigro brought out a acetone
transfer from a color laser print. I was not impressed, but i knew
instantly that it had potential.
A few days later i went to the hardware store to buy a heavy
galvanized pipe to use as a rolling pin, a rolling pin would work too,
but i did not think of it at the time. I also bought a black
rubber/plastic tub, about five gallons.
I brought them back to my dorm, soaked a print for about 5 minutes and
pressed it to some inexpensive hot pressed water color paper of fairly
high density.
The transfered image was very dim, and appeared that the gelatine did
not adhere to the paper properly. For some reason it occured to me
that the paper would become more available if it were soaked as well,
along with the print. So I put a peice of the paper in the water and
let it soak until it became soft.
I then removed one of my windows and placed it on the floor. I also
took the stand which held up my laundry basket and placed several
window screens on it to use to dry the print. I soaked the paper and
the print together for about eight minutes. I got kind of bored just
sitting there, so i started to adgitate the tub gently, and found that
this further lifted the gelatine but removed some of the magenta ink.
I placed the wet peice of water color paper on the peice of glass. I
noticed that the print kept sliding around, resulting in smudgy
images. I also noticed that the back of the print slightly stuck to
the pipe I was using.
On the next transfer I stuck the bottom of the back of the print on
the pipe and pressed it firmly against the water color paper. The
print adhered to the paper, and I was able to roll without problem.
I noticed after a while the gelitin stopped oozing from the sides, and
I figured that was enough as all the gelatine was transfered into the
water color paper.
I pulled the paper apart, it was suprisingly stuck together, but not
so much that the original would rip. The result, a perfectly
transfered print on the water color paper, and a very, very faint
image on the original with virtually all the gelatine coating removed.
The transfered image has very fine patterns where the two were pulled
apart, and the results can be very depthy and rich, but fine detail is
completely lost in the process. The image is waterproof, and has not
faded in four years, but is kept in a box at all times.
I found that if you take a brush gently over the entire image, little
is lost, but a color cast will be applied to the frame. The quality
also changes somewhat, the texture is smoothed out, and sometimes
brush strokes are left behind (Self Portrait Six)
The transfer is then left to dry face up, on coastal maine this took
about twelve hours. The transfer is then pressed and matted.
If you try this, PLEASE let me see what you come up with. It may be
possible to coat your own paper using multiple coats using household
or photographic/laboratory gelatine.
