Making your own film...

[Trius]

Yeah, but then you have to fill your back yard with all those dead animals to get the gelatin. The wife would likely object. 😉

Rob is a chef. He has access to the necessary goop without stinking up the back yard. 😀

 

[rbiemer]

I read the thread over at APUG. Very interesting! And it is mentioned there that some one has thought about using an ink jet printer and why that was seen as not a good option: gelatin and apparently uneven coverage.
Gelatin--technical name "goop", thanks, Earl! Nice to see some one else knows this stuff--needs to be hot so cleaning they system might be troublesome and I think with the size jet you'd need to use, the coverage would be a series of dots rather than a continuous film.
Wayne, I have made digital negatives for alt process; some one gave me one of those "sun print" kits and I got bored with leaf silhouettes pretty quick so I enlarged one of my 35mm scans and it worked fairly well if you like blueprints.
Rob

 

[JohnTF]

DIY film is called wet plate phtography. Alive and well.
DIY inkjet negatives for alternative process contact printing. Also alive and well.

GOOGLE knows.

Am sure there are folks shooting wet plates, but my friend is using Liquid Light or some such, and letting it dry. He cleans up old glass plates in the dishwasher. I imagine it takes some time to perfect good techniques.

It makes interesting reading -- though am not sure it is a project I am going to get to -- would love to see others do it.

Before anyone cooks up any animal parts or hides, does Knox still market gelatin, or perhaps Carolina Biological Supply for mixing plate coatings? I guess Jello would be a stretch.

John

 

[JohnTF]

John, you can still buy dry glass plate, it costs a heap though, primarily its the science and astro folk that use it. dead flat!

Andrew, that was my understanding, at least the good ones, and you would hardly waste a night's work on the cheap ones.

I bought a box of Foma plates in Prague a few years ago, part of my collection of unusual and interesting items. Well, junk to most of my friends, and evidence I need looking after to the rest.

John

 

[benmacphoto]

For a while I did some experiments with Liquid Light on 4x5 glass plates. It has an asa rating of 1, and my light meter went down to 3. So there was a bit of a trial period in getting the correct exposure. It has a pretty low contrast, but when used right and developed correctly it can look really nice. Coating is the hardest part. Melting the emulsion and coating the plate evenly all in complete darkness.

Am sure there are folks shooting wet plates, but my friend is using Liquid Light or some such, and letting it dry. He cleans up old glass plates in the dishwasher. I imagine it takes some time to perfect good techniques.

It makes interesting reading -- though am not sure it is a project I am going to get to -- would love to see others do it.

 

[JohnTF]

For a while I did some experiments with Liquid Light on 4x5 glass plates. It has an asa rating of 1, and my light meter went down to 3. So there was a bit of a trial period in getting the correct exposure. It has a pretty low contrast, but when used right and developed correctly it can look really nice. Coating is the hardest part. Melting the emulsion and coating the plate evenly all in complete darkness.

Excellent, always like to hear about "alternative" techniques,

John

 

[shadowfox]

Where can you source kilos after kilos of silver?

 

[MartinP]

Why would you want silver ??? The photo-sensitive bits are silver nitrates, bromides etc etc, depending on exactly what you are going to do with it of course. Sensitizers can be sulphur compounds and a few other things.

There is 'a lot' of interest (curiosity?) in alternative processes, though inevitably probably fewer people trying them out. Even the UK Black and White Photography magazine has carried articles about these processes this year, including lists of materials suppliers. I am only at the level of fiddling with pinholes and paper-negs at the moment, but who knows . . .

 

[venchka]

While platinum printing from inkjet negatives is mucho beautiful and mucho mucho expensive, carbon transfer printing using lamp black (india ink?) and Konx gelatin (goop?) and outdated glossy FB photopaper (fixed and washed to remove the silver) is both gorgeous and exceedingly budget friendly.

 

[rbiemer]

Agree with you about the beauty of Platinum and Carbon transfer prints, Wayne!
That kind of stuff is what I would much prefer to learn in a group setting; class or workshop.
Rob

 

[venchka]

There are carbon workshops around. GOOGLE knows I'm sure. There was one at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite last April. Hopefully it will come around next year. Sandy King teaches carbon transfer at workshops.

 

[shadowfox]

Why would you want silver ???

You don't need silver to make silver salts?