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coffee artwork 1
Shown in this coffee art gallery is part of a fine collection of more than 50 coffee art works on glazed ceramics created by the artist. These coffee art pieces were exhibited in Art Galleries with such a success, that a second Edition had to be rapidly produced which is now available for the public and is being exhibited at this time in the artist's Coffee Art Gallery in Costa Rica.  see also coffee art on plates

Price for each work on ceramic plate:
50.00 USD Size:19 cms ( 7.5 in.) diameter
order by number.
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coffee artwork 2

Coffee Artwork 3

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Coffee Artwork 10

coffee art work 11
Price 50.00 USD Size:19 cms ( 7.5 in.) diameter

coffee artwork 12
Price for each work on ceramic plate:
50.00 USD Size:19 cms ( 7.5 in.) diameter
order by number.

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coffee is more than a beverage It is a food, a divine seed
of many hidden mysteries.

Besides being first used as pigment  to make art, Its vast
chemistry is still uncharted.

No where else in the planet has coffee been so deeply
investigated to make art, as in the Cafegrafia labs.

CAFEGRAFIA, translates literally in the English language to
Coffee graphics.

When new art forms are being created that never existed
before, new terms to name them have also to be coined,
such is the case for:

" coffee pigment prints"
" CAFEGRAFIA "
" Cafetypes "
" Silver Halide Coffee Art "
" liquid emulsion Coffee Art "
" Coffee Artist " etc...

COFFEE MEDALLIONS

As seen in picture (right ) Coffee Art
on fine wood
to be used as jewelry,

It is an art form still in production now.

The artist authored about 20 different themes.

Images are made with coffee.

                              see coffee art medallions

Photographs Made With Ground coffee

a very unusual invention, with a special place in the annals
of coffee art history and not a small photochemical triumph
of the CAFEGRAFIA labs,

was the invention of photographic images made with extremely
finely divided ground coffee at first, later with concentrated coffee solutions that on drying left the image as a coffee residue.
see coffee pictures below.

the first process utilized the silver in commercial photo paper,
on which after making the image in the normal manner, it was substituted, by chemical means, with coffee, which precipitated in situ exactly on the parts where the silver had been.
in order to fix the coffee image so it could be handled, each print was given a coat of varnish.

These coffee artworks were first sold in a very small scale at Plaza De La Cultura , right in the heart of San jose, The capital
city of Costa Rica. There the artist had a permanent coffee art exhibit from 1990 to about 1995.
Knowing in advance that people would not believe that photographic images could be made with coffee,

He equipped his sales team with unvarnished coffee prints and
all they had to do, on selling on a person to person basis, was to have the person run his own finger over the unvarnished image, when this was done, the finger would take the coffee off the
image leaving a white streak over the print where the
powdered coffee had been taken off by the finger of the buyer.

in another words, part of the image was now on the finger tip of the buyer, who on placing his finger, still stained with the
powdered coffee, directly under his or her nose, would smell the coffee. This sales technique was very effective in increasing
sales and proving to the skeptics that in fact, the photos were made with coffee. Nevertheless many people walked away

shaking their heads in disbelief, ( Most of them Costa Ricans.)
Tourist from Europe were quick to grasp that they were buying
native inventive genius and a piece of coffee art history.

They were the great buyers. The artist authored 54 different artworks or subjects with which he produced and sold over
20.000 coffee art prints. When Costa Ricans Begun to see the invention on foreign press and prime time international television shows, they realized they had a prophet in their own land. Many amazed Journalist witnessed the process  and wrote about it, see article in The Coffee Journal by John Edwards here pure coffee art gallery
and in Café Olé Magazine ( Seattle, Wa) in 1992 here art of coffee


above ( left ) Saul Bolaños the artist, with Alvarez Desanti the president of Costa Rica Congress, During his art exhibit in the Congress of Costa Rica where he was honored for his achievements.
In the background his large format photographs made with ground coffee.

COFFEE PIGMENT PRINTS
OR COFFEE PIGMENT ART

The first permanent  photographic pigment prints
the world ever saw appeared in Europe around the year 1900,

No one had made prints using coffee as pigment until 1989
when several novel techniques were devised by the artist for
such a difficult purpose.

The first coffee pigment prints were exhibited in the art museum
of Costa Rica in the early 1990's.

below is shown a type of coffee art: "COFFEE PIGMENT PRINTS"
that has never been seen to this day anywhere else,

except in the art galleries where the artist  has exhibit them.

coffee pigment print as first Invented
by the artist in Costa Rica in 1989.
Image  (left ) was Created on stone.
This is PERMANENT COFFE ART.

PERMANENT COFFEE ART

Coffee Paints, either for painting with coffee or for retouching of coffee prints and coffee pictures in general were compounded by The author many years ago.

In art circles you often hear " acid free paper " this term has been hammered so much in
the collective consciousness for the last 50 years or so, that it is now been wrongly taken
as a synonym for permanence.

Acid does contribute, in combination with light and air, in fading of some coloring matters. But the chemistry is not so simple. A paper and a pigment can be both acid,  with no ozone liberation or sign of fading over many years. It can be permanent.

Humidity is the number one color destroyer followed by small pigment particle size. Most chemical reactions are accelerated in the presence of water. Storing conditions are fundamental.

without air and water, the bleaching action of uv light on organic bodies is enormously retarded for the most part.
But when it comes to organic matter like coffee, all known laws of  photochemistry apply but some other laws come also into play. The landscape changes with advantages.

There is so many ways to make coffee resistant to light that it would take many pages to list all.  Only the most simple conditions will be mentioned for the few coffee artist , coffee painters or any one painting with coffee who is seeking information on how to make light stable coffee compositions for painting.

Coffee is roasted for use as a beverage. Roasting means Carbon. The higher the roasting temperature the more the cellulose in coffee will be transformed into carbon.

Carbon is the most permanent organic pigment known.  It follows then, that the
simplest way ( by no means the only one) to make coffee as a pigment resistant to light is:

first:
not to use the instant type of soluble coffee when making the paint
the particles are too small to resist the Ultraviolet Attack forever. Or at least mix it with about
50% of larger particle size coffee prepared as explained below.

second:
Use dark roasted coffee or roast coffee to a darker than normal point. Separate the finer coffee particles by known means and/or Finely grind the particles for use. It takes work.

Another of several other PERMANENT coffee pigment art
forms invented  by the author is a light sensitive paper called:
-Cafegrafia Magical Photo Paper.

This produces a permanent coffee pigment image by dusting it
with finely powdered coffee. the pigmenting with coffee
can be done under full sunlight. No darkroom is necessary.

This type of coffee art amazes
every one looking at the process.
It is magic indeed. Coffee Magic.
see sample below

Above, Cafegrafia Magical Photo Paper
a pure finely powdered coffee image
appears on a completely blank page after
mere dusting with fine dry ground coffee.

HOW TO MAKE ART ON COFFEE FILTER PAPER
Liquid Emulsion Coffee Art  | or Silver Halide Coffee Art .

A new type of coffee art first made by the artist and
that Any one can make also is shown below:
All that is needed is a basic knowledge of photography and a liquid silver emulsion.

Coffee filter paper is first primed with a colorless gelatin solution
( with chalk as a filler ) to fill its pores. After  drying the filter paper is
made light sensitive by mere brushing with a photographic silver
emulsion in liquid form.

The filter paper made thus photographic, is exposed in a darkroom under a negative in the normal photographic manner to develop the the silver image on the coffee filter paper.

The Picture on coffee filter paper
( left ) was developed with coffee.

This fact justifies even more the
term silver halide coffee art.
But, of course, the exposed latent
image can be developed with any
other ordinary developer. It does not
necessarily has to be coffee.

And instead of coffee filter paper
the image can be made in
watercolor paper which is even
easier to work because it is stronger.
see Lucenta Photo Emulsion Manual
and COFFEE AS PHOTO DEVELOPER

HOW TO MAKE ART ON COFFEE WOOD

For Another form of coffee art first made by the artist and that can be made by any one, especially to make coffee jewelry,
See: How to make coffee art on wood coffee art on wood

The coffee plant yields a fine wood of light cream color apt
to be made light sensitive with a liquid silver emulsion. see below.

coffee jewelry

Finished pieces of coffee
wood can be  made into
earrings. Can also be made
into a medallion, a pendant,
brooch  or bracelet.

the coffee wood is made
photographic with LUCENTA
liquid silver photo emulsion.
see how to make your
own photographic material

This type of coffee art, or silver
halide coffee art as can be seen
is very unique. Instead of coffee
wood any other wood can be used
and as mentioned earlier,
the image does not have to be
developed with coffee.

COPYRIGHT 2006 BY SAUL BOLAÑOS

Who was the first to
Make images with coffee ?

That is a question often asked
by people and journalist.

The answer to the question is:

... " It is well documented.
Coffee Art  started in
Costa Rica in the research
laboratories of CAFEGRAFIA ®

There are countless of publications
videos, tv documentals, newspaper
and magazine articles, that go as
far back as 1988, as testimonials

Also records in the
United States Patent Office.

Priority for the invention of images
made with ground coffee as well
as liquid coffee is indisputable,
it belongs to Saul Bolaños "...

SEE ABOUT THE ARTIST


As early as 1993 some of
artist's novel coffee art inventions
were making the front covers of
mayor coffee magazines in the
United States. as shown below

SEE COFFEE ART PRESS ARTICLES

For the sake of those searching
for Information on the web about
CAFEGRAFIA and on the history
of coffee art in general
it may be added:

The number one mistake that
most people and journalist make
is to " assume " that there is one
single coffee art process for
making the great variety of coffee
art forms offered by the artist.

That is very far from the truth.
It is impossible to use the same
coffee process for making coffee
images for example on glazed
ceramics, and to use it also for
making coffee art on stones
or spoons.

Each challenge is plagued with
a legion of technical difficulties that
only time and indefatigable
perseverance can resolve.
Most of the time success comes
only after many years of failure.

-There exists a great variety of
processes, worked out at
Cafegrafia. More than 14 alone
for the creation of coffee images.

Each process is founded on
different  scientific principles.
Some are even meant  to be
used as foodstuff, for example:

100% pure coffee images,
images entirely
made of ground coffee !

these images, ( below) 
produced on round coffee filter
paper can be drank.

As shown in the animation below
the filter paper bearing the pure
coffee image only requires to be
immersed in cold or warm water
to dissolve almost instantly,

The water releases
from the fibers of the paper,
the completely soluble coffee
image; which after going into
solution, stains the water with
a strong coffee beverage.
  
the filter paper,
now without the
image, is simply
discarded.


Of course, these
images have the
color aroma and
taste of coffee.
see Costa Rica Coffee Art  
Art on Coffee Filters

One person working alone sold person to person more
than 5.000 of these coffee art filters in several
appearances in crafts expos during 1 year.

This new invention promises to be one of CAFEGRAFIA'S
greatest commercial hits. Those low profiles mini exhibits
are always performed by the artist when testing the market
for one of his new coffee art products.

During the testing period, the coffee prints subjects are
tested as well, before they are produced on important
quantities. No television interviews or press articles are
allowed during this testing period because such
promotion will " Push " the product corrupting results
on REAL LIFE sustainable marketing.

15 subjects were chosen as best sellers, and these
particular coffee art works are being produced now.
The subjects, when doing CUSTOM COFFEE FILTER
ART for other countries, may have to vary, but the
marketing principles behind is governed by known laws.

like gravity, it will work every where because People
understand the language of coffee and the idiom of art
without any translation. Coffee Pictures have no
language barriers.

Another extremely important aspect of work at
CAFEGRAFIA  LABS for more than 15 years now
is focusing only on non polluting environmentally
sound inventions.

This is a Capital importance not only because
ecological awareness is part of inner growth but
because industry not focusing on sustainable
developing today, will disappear soon. Huge
companies will go last, but they will go.

-ORGANIC COFFEE PRINTS
-PAINTING WITH ORGANIC COFFEE
-ORGANIC COFFEE ART IN GENERAL

Are not products at this time in the art
world, but some day they will be
common.

For the first time in the
internet, You will be beginning to
see more and more of the
fine and numerous types
of Coffee Art invented by the artist
who founded the Cafegrafia Labs.

Costa Rica Coffee Art.com was
first published in June of the year
2005. It started with five pages.

By March 2006, the site was
being prepared to have
around 100 pages with about
300 images all authored
by the same artist.

each page has content
not found anywhere else,
in the cyber or real world.

A great Number of new pages
besides the number mentioned
above, - dedicated to the  art of
coffee invented in Costa Rica
are still to be added in the future.

The technical notes of the
Cafegrafia Research Center
amount to more than  1000
pages, written during
26 years of original research.

All of those pages pertain in one
way or another to methods of
producing or improving visual arts.

Coffee was particularly studied
because with the sales of the
coffee art created by the new
novel methods...
Many other areas of research
were financed.

By the year 1995, The artist had
sold more than 30.000
Cafegraphic works.

these were all produced by his
own hands using his own
original methods.

How ?

- " by the miracle of Art
and the Magic of Coffee ! "

With the funds brought in by the
sales his research lab secured
its independence.

It is critical, for an independent
research lab, to sustain its
research by its own efforts,
Only by being independent is
an artist able to choose its
own direction according to
inspiration.

Selling out to larger
companies, institutions,
societies, or government,
is fatal for  independency..

Research,
would be dictated then by
the " interest " of those
mentioned above, and not
the spontaneous, impulsive
urge of creation which
most of the time comes
unannounced to the artists
and inventors.

An essential difference
between a natural
businessman and a true
artist is,
the first strives to be rich
and the second to be happy.

At the CAFEGRAFIA Labs,
the people who helped
the coffee artists engaged
in research then, were never
pre-occupied with money.

This philosophy of focusing
attention primarily on research,
not business, at the long
run paid out well because
numerous novel art forms
were discovered or invented.

Coffee as as
developing
agent for silver salts
was discovered by
the author in 1989.

Thousands of
Coffee developed
silver images were
sold in more than
150 art & crafts and
souvenir stores
country wide in
Costa Rica.

this other commercial success
secured even more funds for
CAFEGRAFIA.

see coffee art history

Below, some of the novel
Inventions (by no means all)
originated at CAFEGRAFIA ®

-Discovery of Coffee as developing agent for
Silver salts.

-Invention of a printing process based on Light
Sensitive oils derived from the coffee plant.

- Invention of coffee pigment prints.

-Invention of  a new process via silver salts
to make INDESTRUCTIBLE PHOTOGRAPHS
which are not affected by fire, water or gases.

-Invention of the first COFFEE TONING process
for silver based prints.

-invention of the first panchromatic LIght Sensitive
Oils which were made to see the full spectrum of
color light radiations as the human eye sees it .

-invention of a new type of stabilizers for silver
based high speed photographic films and paper.

-Invention of  FULL COLOR EDIBLE IMAGES
As Disclosed in The United States Patent Office.

This was the first imaging process ever to produce
full color half tone "Edible" photographic images
on any solid food stuff such as bread, cookies,
cheese, etc. or on liquid foodstuffs like ice cream.

-invention of 100% edible coffee images
-invention of 100% cocoa edible images
-invention of 100% powdered milk edible images
-invention of 100% black tea edible images
-invention of 100% yerba mate edible images