Degree show

For my degree show I I want to expose my photographs onto different materials. I had tried to do this in the first term however it was more difficult than I thought but I am now up for the challenge! One of the most favourtie things I enjoy when working in the darkroom is how experimental it is. I have begun experimenting with liquid emulsion. This is a process through which you can transfer photographs onto any material for example wood, fabric, metal, glass. There are many different stages to using the liquid emulsion. I have bought a book, 'Silver Gelatin. A User's Guide To Liquid Photographic Emulsion', to help me.

Here are the stages summarised:

1. Prepare the surface that is going to be used. It must be as clean as possible. If material with a smooth surface is going to be used e.s. glass, it will need preparation to help the emulsion stick to it. Using a subbing layer such as varnish or primer, allows bonding between the base and the subbing layer, and also between subbing and the emulsion, providing much better adhesion than would be found than coating the base directly.

2. The surface is then coated with the emulsion. The emulsion is solid so needs to be melted down before it is used. This can be done by putting the container into a large hot water bath. It melts in a couple of minutes. The liquid can then be diluted with warm water if it is needed. Porous materials need two or more coats. There are different methods to coating the materials for exmaple, using a brush, rollers, dip coating spraying etc.

3. The emulsion needs to dry before it is worked on. It can either be left to dry naturally or assist the speed of drying by using a hairdryer on low heat, or a fan heater.

4.Once dry the test strips need to be used to determine the exposure time.

5.Develop the same as photographic paper but give it slightly longer in each tray.