Radioactive prints

[Chris101]

Recently there was a thread about radioactive lenses - lenses which had elements containing the radioactive rare-earth element thorium. I commented in that thread that I was working with a uranium process that would yield radioactive prints. As it turns out, it works:

Universal Nude

Plastic Bag 3

Plastic Bag 2
​

Numbers 1 and 2 are pure uranium images, while number 3 combines uranium with prussian blue toning.

I think this all stems from a line from Beetlejuice: "This is my art, and it's dangerous!"

 

[nikku]

That last image is especially strong. Enlighten us in regards to your process! Or at least give a general idea of what you did...

 

[maddoc]

Chris, great !!!

Did you use a Uranium-compound as light sensitive salt comparable to Pt prints ?

 

[pakeha]

uranium process
radioactive
radioactive rare-earth
thorium

thread - MAY BE READ AS THREAT

you are being watched🙂

regards and cool work

 

[Chris101]

That last image is especially strong. Enlighten us in regards to your process! Or at least give a general idea of what you did...

The last image is a duo-toned image. I masked the blue part of the picture, then toned it with a uranyl nitrate based toner. I removed the 'frisket' mask and toned the whole picture with prussian blue toner. Since the uranium complex completely replaces the silver, the red part did not tone blue.

Chris, great !!!

Did you use a Uranium-compound as light sensitive salt comparable to Pt prints ?

I'd like to try real uranotype printing, but these are toned silver prints. The first is a fully toned print where the silver is completely replaced by uranium, the second is partially toned, where some black silver remains, and the third is composed of a uranium area, and the blue area, which is a complex of iron ferrocyanide and silver. The print is then fixed, leaving it silverless.

uranium process
radioactive
radioactive rare-earth
thorium

thread - MAY BE READ AS THREAT

you are being watched🙂

regards and cool work

Thanks! I just hope that I am being watched by the right people! By the way, uranyl nitrate comes out of the bottle as a "yellow cake". 😉

Speaking of yellow ...

Tonight I did my first experiment with vanadium as a yellow toner. It was a gray-green failure. Both my blue (iron ferrocyanide) and red (metallic uranium) toners came from Jack's Photographic and Chemistry Site and the results have surpassed my expectations. I have a lot of experience with Berg's Golden/Yellow Toner, but apparently it is no longer made (I suspect hazmat regulations, rather than economic anti photo-silver reasons, since Berg's blue, brown, sepia and selenium are still available at the same price they have always been.) So I expected to be able to reproduce the excellent range of yellow and yellow-brown tones I have gotten from that. But no. 🙁

I haven't given up on yellow though. I know it can be done, it is just a matter of more experiments. Here is my next avenue of attack.

DISCLAIMER: Uranium, vanadium and cyanide compounds are very poisonous, and present a real and grave danger if mishandled, even slightly. Unless you have sufficient means of using, protecting yourself from and disposing of these compounds, DO NOT USE THEM!

 

[robklurfield]

Chris, you are both brave and crazy. I'm neither, so please keep posting your results and, whatever else you do, BE CAREFUL!

 

[Chris101]

Rob, that is true, especially your second characterization. I am working on a large project using toxic and dangerous chemical processes. My friend is the photo teacher here, and my job is dealing with hazardous chemicals a college. So I am well equipped to do it, and do it safely (in fact, I teach chemical safety) and with excellent resources. You should have seen me while making these prints. I had multiple layers of lots of safety stuff over my clothes. I've never made actual physical contact with any of these prints! Eventually, however, the friable U will be gone, and they will be perfectly safe to touch. I don't know though, how long that will take, perhaps decades. Currently they are sealed in clear plastic folders. In my project's final presentation, they will be sealed, behind glass.

I think. Do watch The Name of the Rose though.

 

[robklurfield]

prints with a half-life. wild.

Rob, that is true, especially your second characterization. I am working on a large project using toxic and dangerous chemical processes. My friend is the photo teacher here, and my job is dealing with hazardous chemicals a college. So I am well equipped to do it, and do it safely (in fact, I teach chemical safety) and with excellent resources. You should have seen me while making these prints. I had multiple layers of lots of safety stuff over my clothes. I've never made actual physical contact with any of these prints! Eventually, however, the friable U will be gone, and they will be perfectly safe to touch. I don't know though, how long that will take, perhaps decades. Currently they are sealed in clear plastic folders. In my project's final presentation, they will be sealed, behind glass.

I think. Do watch The Name of the Rose though.

 

[Chris101]

Four and a half billion years though.