HOME, Back To Costa Rica Coffee Art.Com Lucenta Silver Chloride Liquid Photo Emulsion
How To Make Archival Silver Images on Glass and Glazed Ceramics How To Make Art On Coffee Wood
Lucenta Silver Emulsion Manual Liquid Emulsions, Problems and Solutions Alternative Photography
How To Make Archival Silver Images On Wood And Metal
Liquid Photo Emulsion
Figure one
Silver Chloride is a milky liquid
But on immersion in the fixer it clears like glass
letting the full color and texture of the coated
material show
With Lucenta Chloride
Liquid Photo Emulsion
It is very easy
To Make Silver
Prints On Wood.
2x Enlargement from
a 6x7 Negative.
lens aperture: f 3.5
Light Source: 100w bulb.
Exposure time
by Projection: 2 Minutes.
Developed in Dektol
diluted with 2 parts Water.
Samples of Of Coated Wood
Silver Gelatin Prints On Light Sensitive Wood
all wood given two coats of the silver chloride gelatin emulsion
(to get maximum blacks) developed in Dektol diluted with 2
parts water for 45 seconds and exposed under bw negatives.
Gelatin Silver Print
On Natural Wood
Direct Sepias on
development.
a contact print from a 6x7 bw neg,
with a 2x increase of light exposure
to get a sepia tone directly in
developer restrained with about
1-2 grams of potassium bromide
per liter of working developer
In my 20 year study of Silver
images on Natural Woods I
found that without a final
protective varnish overcoat,
Coniferous woods were not
attacked by wood eating
insects in a 20 year time span,
but all other woods, kept in
equal conditions
were badly eaten or
perforated.
Wood that was waxed,
acrylic or oil varnished was not
attacked, It survived untouched.
It follows then, That all wood no
matter what type should be
varnished. Silver Image included
Six Rules For Archival Silver
Emulsion Images On Wood:
1) Pre coat The Wood With Gelatin
2) Coat the emulsion Thin
3) Coat The Emulsion Even
4) Fix Completely
5) wash thoroughly
6) Varnish The Work entirely
Silver Prints On Light Sensitive Metal
Metal like stainless steel can be made light sensitive with our
LUCENTA liquid photo emulsion. The metal can be coated directly
with the silver gelatin photo emulsion, the result then will be a
mirror like metallic ground, very much like a daguerreotype. In such
case a high contrast image is necessary.
a white ground was given to metal coffee spoon above before The gelatin silver print was made. This white substrate where the silver Image rests, is an ordinary white oil paint.
To protect the silver image on the metal spoon, a final overcoat of a
acrylic colorless varnish is given. Instead of an acrylic varnish, an oil
base clear varnish can also be used, if given very thin it will yellow
very little with time and it has excellent adhesion.
mix and make your own photo emulsion
Coat your own plates for negative or positive work
Expose coated 35mm glass plates in the
camera and make your own negative film
for alternative photography work see links below.
how to make your own emulsion
how to make your own 35mm negative film or plates
copyright 2005-2007 by Saul Bolaños
All rights reserved
Before applying the liquid photo
emulsion Prepare The Wood
For wood where you want its natural color
to show, Apply with a brush the following
clear colorless gelatin sub or pre coat,
put in a glass jar the following mixture:
10% Plain Gelatin Solution
water......................................................100 ml
gelatin (flavorless and colorless)
powder or in leaf form........................10 grams
let the gelatin swell in the water for at least
15 minutes, agitate occasionally.
then dissolve it by placing the jar in a hot water
bath at 45-50c. It melts in about 15 minutes.
Filter through a fine mesh strainer to get rid
of the bubbles. or better, through a double fold
of silk or polyester women stockings placed at
the end of a funnel's mouth.
Do not shake too much afterwards to avoid
forming too many bubbles, if you do, you may
have to filter it again.
If you use sheet gelatin you will
have no bubbles.
You can apply the warm gelatin now to wood.
Brush the mixture on the wood while it is still
melted. Brush first from top to bottom
overlapping the brush strokes . Then from
left to right and finally diagonally. Stop when
you see an even shiny coat. Stand the wood to
dry when the coated gel has set and is no longer
runny . In cold weather you must act quickly before
the gel sets into a stiff jelly. Keep the gel jar warm
in the hot water bath.
In extreme cold whether you may have to heat
the wood to human body temperature to avoid
premature setting. (40 -50c)
Give a second coat:
exactly as the first and let the wood dry.
Learn and feel how the gelatin solution spreads
with close attention to the gelatin
solution properties, the above is a IO %
plain gelatin solution. Its viscosity is exactly what
you will have with LUCENTA silver chloride
liquid emulsion, and also its setting properties.
When you finish coating the wood
place the gelatin solution in the refrigerator,
where it will keep in good condition for a week
or so. If you see mould growing on its surface
(dark blue round spots) it means it has started
to biodegrade. Scrape off the bad part and use
the bottom only if has the power to jellify still.
If the top part has begun to liquefy even in the
refrigerator , bad news. Throw it away.
to prolong the life
of the gelatin solution:
Right after mixing and using
for the first time, place it in refrigerator to set, then
pour some ethyl alcohol on top to a height of
about half an inch. The alcohol will not mix with
the gelatin while it has jellified.
gelatin so treated will not grow mould for about
3 weeks, and 5-6 weeks if the jar has a good lid
and not too much air is left above the alcohol,
in other words
if the jar is almost filled to the top with the gel and
alcohol.
To reuse the mixture, pour off the
alcohol before re melting again.
Once the gelatin coated wood has dried,
Examine it. If it has a shiny surface
there is enough gelatine well above the wood
fibers which is what you want in order to isolate
the wood from contact with the silver emulsion,
a condition necessary for long lasting images
on natural wood.
If it is shiny, then
proceed to next step which is
sanding the dried gelatin surface with fine sand
paper, this will cause the emulsion to adhere
perfectly. Do not worry if the shiny coat is lost
after sanding, it will recover its gloss after coating
with the silver emulsion.
The wood, after dusting off with a brush, is
ready to be coated with the liquid light sensitive
silver chloride photo emulsion. (or any other silver
emulsion)
To coat the wood with liquid light sensitive
silver emulsion:
Just proceed as you did to coat the clear gelatin
solution...(see figure 1)
But do not brush too thick, the secret is to leave a
thin even coat of silver emulsion first,
and after a while, I5 minutes (if you place the
humid coated wood in front of a current of cold air
from a fan) then you can apply the second coat, in
the same manner as the first and then let it dry
naturally or dry it with cold air first and warm air
(35- 40c) later, with care as not to re melt the
emulsion gelatin.
Process the wood in the ordinary manner
but use a hardening fixer so emulsion will not
soften too much during washing, which should
be performed very gently without violent water jets
and water not above 25c.
Wash each silver print individually on its own tray.
8 changes of still water (at 20c) each lasting about
5 minutes (30-40 min. total)
is all you need to get rid of the silver double salts
left in the gelatin by the thiosulfate.
As stop bath:
never use acetic acid stronger than O.5% ( 1:200)
a 2-5% acetic acid bath even in 20 seconds
will attack the gelatin of any recently hand coated
emulsion. (not only Lucenta) This you will notice
specially on glass or ceramic tiles, which will be too
soft by the time they reach the hardening fixer.
All you need is a 0.5 % strength acetic acid to
neutralize the alkali of the developer ( in about
20 seconds. ) to avoid yellow developer stains,
formed in the fixer (due to alkali carry over. )
Archival Finish
After The Image is dried, coat it with the 10%
plain gelatin solution given above and let it dry.
This layer will isolate the silver image from
any varnish overcoat.( to avoid chemical action )
Now varnish the image with any oil varnish.
(poppy seed, linseed, or polyurethane varnish)
Coat it with the oil very thinly. Use your finger
and do not use more oil than what the finger
can spread uniformly. These oils have great
body and great resistance even in extremely
thin layers which will not yellow strongly.
In this way, the image will be very well
protected and can be cleaned with water
throughout the years.
Of CAPITAL IMPORTANCE:
is to coat the rest of the wood body. If not
sooner or later it will be attacked by wood
eating insects. Instead of oil a clear
acrylic varnish can be used which will not
yellow (if applied thin) and will protect the
image and the whole body against insect
attack even better than the oil varnish.
If You Like To Know More About
Lucenta Chloride
The Gaslight Paper Photo Emulsion
now in Liquid Form
Go here: Make Your Own Photographic Paper
Lucenta Silver Chloride Instruction Manual
Alternative Photography
Make Pictures on wood, cloth , fiber paper,
tiles, glass, stones, canvas, plates, Expose in contact with a negative, or enlarge
by projecting the negative image onto the
light sensitive surface. After Exposing develop
and fix in the ordinary photographic manner.
Buy 100 grams of Lucenta
Dried Emulsion
To Make 1 liter for
$ 99 USD
Plus Shipping.
Any question please write me
INFO ON LUCENTA LIQUID EMULSION