I will be trying out liquid emulsion on an artist's canvas which comes stretched over a basic wooden frame.

I have read that the emulsion will expand when wet and shrink when dried, so my question is should I remove the canvas from the frame before developing. This would allow it to expand and shrink easier. I had been thinking of leaving the canvas on the frame and putting it upside down in the developing tray.

Anyone see any problems with that?

Thanks,
Peter

Do any one know someting about this?

tormod

Works fine not on the frame. Its what I did for the print exchange last time. Size the canvas first and then the liquid emulsion. Expect about a 50% failure rate though (at least that's what I average.)

Steve

I've never had much luck with artist canvas. The problem is that it is very porous, so the emulsion seeps into the canvas. In order for a neg to properly develop it needs a smoother surface.There may be some way to prep the canvas, but you would need to find a substance that would withstand the developing and washing process. Artist paper on the other hand, seems to be easier to get results from. The best luck I ever had was using ceramic tiles or glass. It both cases, the surface needs to be roughed up considerably using sandpaper before applying the liquid light.

One of the problem is that Liquid Light and other emulsion products don't contain a hardener. Therefore, it can wash off during processing.

Another is that it probably does not contain enough or any surfactant. A surfactant will help spread it evenly on the surface of the canvas. And, it may take two coatings.

I can't say for sure, as I make my own emulsions, but I have been able to coat my emulsions on canvas with little problem, but see difficulties if I leave out or vary hardener or surfactant.

I would suggest adding either chrome alum (10%) or glyoxal (10%) to the emulsion, about 5 ml / 150 ml of emulsion. Coat and let dry for about 4 hours or more and then process.

Another alternative is to soak in a pre-hardener and omit the hardner.

PE

I've never had much luck with artist canvas. The problem is that it is very porous, so the emulsion seeps into the canvas. In order for a neg to properly develop it needs a smoother surface.There may be some way to prep the canvas...

I've used canvas gwoo sizing (i.e., wabbit skin gwoo) successfully fow duewing gum bichwomate pwints on paypuhs. I suspect it would cweate a pwopaw substwate fow pwinting wiquid emowshuns on canvas. Next choice would be to twy sizing with someting wike 250 bwoom ossein (hawd gewatin) or maybe give it a bwushing of ahwbwumen (egg white) twying to not genewate too many bubbles in the pwocess.

Wegawds,

smiegwitz

Rockand Colloid makes a Liquid Light emulsion specifically for fabrics. You may want to check that out. Otherwise, I would say leave the canvas on the stretcher frame and apply several coats of emulsion. Use a hardening fixer. Be really careful not to exceed 68° F, also. Gentle agitation and wash. Use hypo clear to reduce wash times. Good luck. I'll bet it would be beautiful.

I have no experience in this area, so this is a pure guess. Sizing the canvas with gelatin (several coats of dilute gelatin solution) might be a way to mitigate the coating problems.

I left the canvas on the wood when working with it. Some canvas i used was ok and others soaked the emulsion up. So a gelatin prefix would be good to do.

The nice thing about leaving the wood around the canvas is that you can develop/fix the picture with floating. When the wood gets wet be sure to wash good because the develop/fix can get deep into the wood.