Free Film

Posted on Posted in A Symbol Life, Getting Stuff, overnight notesLeave a comment

I do love trying different film. But only BW. Just not into color film testing. I spent years doing that; now, sadly there is only Kodak for color negatives. A sad compromise after living with Fuji’s pinnacle of color possibles.

Can you guess that I just returned from a walkabout to find that the film had fucked up. Yep. Well, I had failed to load, to verify the film advancing.

Since I am in new territory I can easily find a roll (120) worth of images in a half hour, so not much time was lost. But I still hate opening the back to find that the counter was only clicking off revolutions, not film frames. The difference between counting and doing. Between theory and practice. Between electrons and atoms.

But then again, that is the meaning of experience. Mechanics fails- human and human made.

Dye Film :note

Posted on Posted in dye transfer, labnotes, the Lab

Will a sheet of fixed out arista litho film hold dye? A question from a few days back that I have decided to post more about.

Two sheets of film; both dyed in cyan dye. The upper one with the arch of color is Kodak matrix film partially washed off. That’s what the arch is: no emulsion. The cyan is fogged, age mottled emulsion after being dyed.

The lower, empty, blank, unstained square of film is Arista Litho that has been stained with the same cyan dye as the matrix film — stained for over 8 minutes — that stain drained off with less than 40 seconds in rinse. It didn’t base stain — there wouldn’t be highlight carry over.

This isn’t a stripped emulsion, we aren’t at film base.

What does this demonstrate?

Try it. No matter who you hear an answer from, try the experiment in your studio with your equipment. Set your own standards; have your own goals.

Why did I do this? Because I wanted to know; to confirm my memory of making matrix films from true raw, so ever many years ago. Dye won’t stick if an emulsion won’t, however, a dye sticks to ‘soft’ gelatin — gelatin of a type. It will stick to many types of colloids — collodion, gelatin, albumin, etc. It isn’t easy to get all things arranged: emulsion, dye, receiver; all compatible, durable, useable to your purpose.

Get your own hands dirty.

Dyers Fingers: Cyan Thumb