Brushed Monobath Development

Love it. I see what your going for here. Do some more!

Thanks Richard! Yep, I will do some more deliberate ones nwo that i know how it works. Now go back to lithing....

Interesting effect... I will be moving back into printing soon... Great inspiration.

I am not sure technically how you did this, what is a mono bath and goop and type 55? Whatever the process I love it!!!

Oh, monobaths are fast-acting developer-fixer combinations that completely process film in a minute or so. This particular one acts in 20 seconds... Developed and fixed, tada! The "goop" is the monobath gel in a polaroid type 55 pack. Type 55 is the pos/neg film and that we all knew and loved but which isn't made any more. All I did for this experiment was expose the type 55, then cut the goop pod away and apply it with a brush to the film, rather than develop it in the usual way. The idea was to see if I could get a brushed / textured look without scratching the film. It works well. The only thing was I had to do it in the dark... Next time I'll do it with a safelight or IR goggles or something.

Thanks for your comments!

Wow thanks for the 101, did some Polaroid transfers before but never heard of this wonderful process! How does the print feel in hand? Does it dry textured like it appears and has some texture you could feel by touching light w your fingers? Very engaging print for sure!

Actually this is a neg (flipped by the scan software, of course). Type 55 is "pos/neg" instant film- it generates a neg and a print...but by doing it this way you get no print, instead you get a neg with distinction You can do this with any b&w film though and whipping up a monobath isn't too hard.

Inspiring! Thanks Keith! Andy

This is great, Keith. I can't wait to see more. Would also be interested in some info on "whipping up a monobath".

Thanks! Eddie, look for the MM1 recipe, that is an easy monobath to make and the chems are easy to get from the formulary. The only tricky bit is getting a good even mixture but I can give some tips when you're ready or you can search the forum and get the full story. There is a book by Haist that is authoritative but also not relly worth owning, all you really need is in a few pages.