First time with Liquid Light....

[Robert Kennedy]

O.k. I got an 8 oz. bottle of Liquid Light. The straight stuff. Not the VC stuff.

Anyway, I also picked up two small books of watercolor paper and some small canvas boards covered in gesso to experiment on. I figure these are two good, and small surfaces on which to play with this stuff.

I have a few questions though....

The instructions call for NOT using an acid-based stop bath. Instead you should use a short hypo-based fix and then a longer fix. But I have also heard that you can just use a water bath. Any comments on that?

Also, why TWO fixes? I mean if using a fix as a stop-bath, why not just dump it in fixer and let it ride? Or am I missing something here?

And any sage advice on using this stuff would be great. First time for me and all...

 

[Aggie]

..

 

[Lex Jenkins]

Hey, what's the poop with applying Liquid Light? Does it hafta be done only under safelight? That seems to make sense but there are some materials that vary in light sensitivity between wet and dry stages.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

According to the instructions you need a safelight. The AG variant can't even be applied under safelight due to the speed.

 

[removed account4]

hi there

i used to make glass positives using liquid light ... fun stuff!
i never used any stop bath, and used a water bath instead.
2 fixer baths is to make sure the emulsion is completely fixed. if you leave it in one fix bath, it will become more exhausted faster, and the image won't be 'stabalized" ( from what i remember) ... i think michael smith has some info on 2 fixer baths in the "writings" seciton of his website).

i never used it too much on paper or canvas, but you probably need some sort of a binding agant ( subbing agent ) to keep the emulsion from being absorbed too much into you medium.

from what i remember there was a number for rockland colloid on the instruction manual. the folks there are very eager to help people use their "stuff".
they might have the info you need here: http://www.rockaloid.com/ ( on their website : ) )

good luck!

-john

ps. if you add a little bit of developer to your liquid emulsion it will make it a little more contrasty, and increase the asa a little bit too.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

O.k. So the fixer will become exhausted by using it just once? Or will it simply use up normal fixer faster?

 

[Lex Jenkins]

Thanks for the info. I've read the label on the bottles of Liquid Light at the stores but don't recall seeing anything about whether it must be applied under safelight.

I have a pretty good stock of watercolor paper going unused since I don't paint much these days.

 

[removed account4]

hi again

it won't become exhausted by using it once, but it will exhaust faster than if you are using stop bath before the first bath ... the second fixer bath allows the fixer to permiate the paper more and totally fix the image. you might want to talk to bob<?> at rockland colloid to ask specifics regarding their product. while i have used it quite a bit, i don't really know more than my own experience ( experiments ) tell me.

if you can find a copy of "liquid silver emulsion" snatch it up! it has great information about using liquid light &al., making your own emulsons, troubleshooting &c &c ...
unfortunately, it is out of print

good luck!
-john

 

[Aggie]

..

 

[removed account4]

hi again

it won't become exhausted by using it once, but it will exhaust faster than if you are using stop bath before the first bath ... the second fixer bath allows the fixer to permiate the paper more and totally fix the image. you might want to talk to bob<?> at rockland colloid to ask specifics regarding their product. while i have used it quite a bit, i don't really know more than my own experience ( experiments ) tell me.

if you can find a copy of "liquid silver emulsion" snatch it up! it has great information about using liquid light &al., making your own emulsons, troubleshooting &c &c ...
unfortunately, it is out of print

good luck!
-john

 

[Robert Kennedy]

O.k. Now I found out that the fixer used is "Kodak A/B" (never heard of it before), and that the B part is a hardner and that they don't add that. They just use the A part.

Will this work?

 

[lee]

Robert,

Isn't this just rapid fixer? Part A and part B? Part A is the fixer and Part B is the hardner. Most agree that for printing Part B is not needed and some go so far as saying with modern films part B is not needed. I subscribe to that particular theory.


lee\c

 

[Robert Kennedy]

I'm betting this is the case. This stuff is for general use. Due to school regulations, they provide the fix, we provide everything else.

Would the rapid stuff work here? My photo chemistry is pretty poor...

But I'm working on it....

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Well....I've been playing with the Liquid Light some. Two problems I have run into.

1) Bubbles. This is just a brushing issue and I am working on it.

2) Emulsion lifting. This is a big pain. I've been using Strathmore watercolor paper as a test. Bought a little book of the stuff. It works O.K. with ONE coating, but the emulsion lifts with two. Big time! Great if I wanted to do emulsion lifts, but I don't want to (yet...maybe later....). I'm still playing with some ideas here....maybe it is the coating or maybe the substrate...A little experimentation should help. But if anyone has any feedback, that would be great.

 

[Aggie]

..

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Actually I have had much better luck now. I tried a new method of applying the emulsion, and I dumped the watercolor paper.

I bought some Arches Whatever-looked-good-at-$5.00-a-sheet and some papyrus (yes, papyrus...).

Instead of brushing the stuff on, I don some gloves and rub it into the paper. I have MUCH better luck this way. I pour a small amount of LL in the middle of the paper, and then I rub it into the paper. I let it dry for a couple of minutes, and then do another layer. To finish it, I dry brush it very lightly. The results are MUCH better. No bubbling at all now, and with two layers I get some pretty good results. I'm posting them in the gallery.

My biggest problem now is the paper itself. The papyrus curls like mad. I'm thinking of making some sort of stretcher to hold the paper taunt.