All of this on top of the fact that I cannot use any metal in the process while there is any wet emulsion as it would react. It originally took me about 15 minutes per sheet of paper once the emulsion was ready to apply due to the extreme handling precautions to keep it from shredding, and I couldn’t let it just sit where it was to dry as it would either stick to the surface or be exposed to light, and wax paper didn’t provide enough support to move it after applying. More importantly, the canvas material does not rip apart when wet so it is MUCH easier to handle without ruining a day’s work. This way it was actually embedded into the fibers when it was made, allowing my emulsion to stick on easier. The key I found was to NOT use a canvas that has had Gesso Pre-Applied. To do this I got some scrap cloth that was somewhat similar to canvas in weave, and I got some standard canvases. I decided to not Coat Paper in the material, but Embed it in Canvas. However, I decided to put a little twist on things. So I made the emulsion and tried it on some paper and it worked, that’s it right? Not Exactly, there was the problem of the emulsion sticking to the paper without it ripping itself apart. It melts easily, is relatively strong and flexible, is cheap, and maintains a decent transparency and is easy to store. I ended up just googling “DIY photo emulsion” to see if anyone has tried this before, and it so happens it has been done, and as it turns out the best medium is Knox’s Flavorless Gelatin. I looked into a few alternatives such as Transparent Painter’s Medium (which turned out to be impractical as it is difficult to keep from going bad and an even consistency over a month at a time in the darkroom). At first I considered Wax as it melts easily and is pretty strong when cold as well it can seep into cloths and other materials with ease, but I decided that the drawbacks that I might encounter were too severe to look deeper into without options (I don’t, after all, have unlimited time with free chemicals in a high school lab every day!). The next step was to choose a medium for the solution that would be structurally sound when solid yet flexible, and easy to liquefy and apply to the material. I could have used an iodide salt but it would require having some chemicals ordered as the only ones in the lab were “ill advised” by my instructor. This reaction, called a double displacement reaction, simple lets the two anions (Ag+ and Na+) exchange cations (-NO3 and -Cl) and the result is Silver Chloride. The use of Sodium Chloride (salt) was chosen because it is cheap, abundant, and it wouldn’t create something that would react with the Photographic chemicals in the end. As it turns out, making Silver Chloride is extremely easy by Chemistry standards: I sat down with her during a lunch period and I started doing my basic chemical equations and reactions. My instructor said that if I wrote up my own procedure etc, that she would let me have access to the chemicals and equipment needed. I did some research on the primary ingredients in standard Emulsion and found that the most common was a form of Silver Halide (either Chloride or Iodide). I had just gotten into photography and wanted to put images on various things using Darkroom techniques. In high school my teachers were always very supportive of my projects, and now that I was in chemistry my instructor asked if I wanted to try something chemical wise. It is safe to handle in general, but do NOT use near flame or extreme heat!Ī little humor in the warning: this Nitrate property was the method to assassinate Nazis in Inglorious Bastards!īefore the Procedure, a little background on how I settled on this method and technique. That means this film is extremely flammable, and possibly borderline explosive. If you use perform this experiment take note: this is NITRATE based emulsion! While they can be handled safely,Įven my chemistry teacher took a few moments to realize the unusual hazard With a little bit of chemical preparation, it ended up being a very simple procedure. I wanted to coat canvas with it and expose my prints to it. At one point, I decided to make my own photographic emulsion. Back when I was in high school, I did a lot of darkroom photography.
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