Liquid Light

[Ektagraphic]

I understand what liquid light is to print photos on diffrent surfaces, but how do you develop it?? If I put the liquid light on a rock and print on it, do I have to put the rock in a whole bucket of developer, stop and fixer?

[Christopher Walrath]

Essentially, yes. Though I would make certain you have a container very similar in volume that is comparable to the size of your object. Whatever you expose the negative onto, you place in a container of the developer. then you move it to the first of two identical fixers which halts the developing action. Then move onto the second of the fixers for the fixing portion of the processing.

[Ektagraphic]

Is it worth it? How is the quality of the image if it is put on a smooth surface such as wood? What happens with wood soaking up the developer?

[tiberiustibz]

You can sponge/brush the chemistry on. That's how large prints are usually processed.

You have to wash your surfaces very well. It's most useful for T-shirts and stuff and strange textured papers. I don't believe it's very sharp though.

[Christopher Walrath]

You could place some sort of substrate on the surface of the wood (clear stain perhaps or some such) and this would give a barrier between the porous surface of the wood and the moistness of the emulsion and chemistry.

[jnanian]

liquid light is like paper emulsion in a bottle ..
if you can find the book "silver gelatin"
it tells an awful lot about how to use it and make emulsions
the book is out of print, but it can be found on amazon ...

i have been coating glass with liquid light &C since about 1986 or 7 ... it is a lot of fun!
once you start using bottled-stuff, be careful ... it is a slippery slope to making
your own emulsions ...

have fun!

john

[Christopher Walrath]

There goes John, trolling for converts. (I think it might be working)

[Photo Engineer]

I could troll for converts too.

I know more about this than most. But, coating on other than flat surfaces introduces DOF problems that cause blurry images. A flat surface is best.

PE

[Christopher Walrath]

Yeah, the only way to pull it off would be to place the emulsion on as flat a surface as possible, raise the lamp housing as high as possible and still get the image and stop the enlarging lens all the way down to increase DOF. And even then . . .

Good point, Ron.

[gandolfi]

I am not an expert, as I have only used LE for about 25years, but just to clarify:
"Liquid Light" is a brand name (Rockland), not Liquid emulsion as such (correct me if I am wrong).

I have used Liquid Light many years ago, and I found it besutiful, but very (to me) difficult to work with... (might just be me..)

There are a lot of different brands out there - less expensive - with different "looks" - some very easy to work with - some not.

but it IS an addictive road to follow! and YES: it IS worth it - and more...