Liquid Light - Printing to Clayboard

Enlargers are like cats - one follows you home, and then another. An art teacher (Thank you, A.M.!) asked if I was interested in an enlarger a few months ago. I had been thinking about printing images onto things other than traditional paper. I was going to try making contact prints using various sensitized papers in the sun; however, an enlarger would open up a lot of different options.

The Beseler 23C then followed me home. Using Liquid Light, I started to print images (35mm and medium format) onto watercolor paper, clayboard, and wood. The image of the horse is from a 35mm negative - a night-time image of a sculpture in the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.

35mm Kodak TMax - night exposure

35mm Kodak TMax - night exposure, version 2

The contrast range for the Liquid Light is limited, and I've had the best result with high-contrast negatives that are uncluttered - bold shapes and subjects that don't rely on a great deal of very fine detail.

Liquid Light requires a surface with a bit of tooth - cold-press watercolor paper works well. Another excellent surface is the Ampersand Clayboard. The Liquid Light sticks well, and the boards are easy to process, and easy to mount in various creative ways. I like to float them inside shadow boxes.

The watercolor paper requires a little more handling. When coating the paper, I use little magnets to hold the paper flat onto rigid plastic sheets - otherwise they curl from the application of the emulsion. After rinsing, the prints are inserted into a Delta Drying Book to flatten and dry.

After rinsing, I use the drying paper on the surface of the clayboard, then set the board onto a small rack to dry.

Clayboard print...

And now, back to the enlargers-as-cats theory... A.M. asked if I was interested in another enlarger - a Beseler 45. Since I have a large collection of large format negatives, it will be a great addition.

Beseler 45 - the scouting photo...

A little disassembly - part of it came home in a tiny car, the rest in the Jeep. It needs reassembly, and I need to figure out the space for it. Both will be used to project images onto various surfaces, as they can tilt to a horizontal position. As winter sets in, there will be plenty of time to experiment.

Alternative Photo Printing with Liquid Light

A Beseler 23C II enlarger found space in my basement through a trade with an art teacher. I was not interested in traditional printing - I wanted to print onto unusual surfaces including metal, glass, wood, or various 3D objects. The methods I have been using will be posted later. These are the first images that I have been happy with, onto cold press watercolor paper. Click on the images for a larger view.

Eye'm Amazed

This is Tony Tasset's Eye - 2007 - now on display at the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis.

Serene Scene

Charles Ginnever's - Crete

Hello? Room Service?

Grafitti on a dumpster in San Francisco.

These images are from 35mm negatives - the first two with the Leica IIIf and 50mm Summicron. Room Service imaged with the Xpan.

Painting with Light - Rockland Colloid

There was an opportunity to trade a framed print for a Beseler 23CII enlarger. I was interested in using it to print images upon various surfaces, such as stones, metal, tiles or various types of paper. This was the first reasonably exposed image; however, some fine tuning is needed.

Carriage Horse - Chicago

The image is printed upon some 8 by 8 inch cold-press watercolor paper that was coated with Rockland's Liquid Light.

I have a better sense of applying the emulsion now, as it was too thick in this case. Also, I did not have blotting paper to properly treat the surface after it was rinsed - resulting in a lot of little blobs of emulsion. The materials are very easy to work with. When applying the emulsion to the watercolor paper, it is necessary to tape it to a flat surface, otherwise the paper will curl and is annoying to work with. A few more experiments, then I will post another version of this image.

American Made Tools

A pair of old tools from the depths...

Crushing It!

No. 1 Chicago

Long expired Ilford FP4 Plus, Horseman 45FA, 110mm Schneider lens.

A Swami in Stereo

The Swami Vivekenanda

An unplanned stereo pair from a trip to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. This is with the Hasselblad, the 40mm Distagon C lens, and Ektar film.

Click for larger image. Slowly cross your eyes while looking at the center of the image, and a stereo illusion will appear.

The Swami Vivekananda

The illusions may be improved with some better positioning. I may work with them more in order to make some prints.