FOMA liquid emulsion

[Dear]

Hello!
I have been given the task to make some album covers (vinyl LPs), and we have discussed the possibility to do it by enlarging some negatives directly to the cover-material, using foma photographic emulsion.
Has anyone here ever tried something like that?
Are there any issues I should be aware of?
I've been making a lot of black/white prints in the darkroom on regular photographic paper, so I'm used to working in the darkroom. I just never tried liquid emulsion before.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[BMbikerider]

I think it may depend upon the base that you are going to cover with the liquid emulsion. It would have to be a pure white base or the tones may be severely degraded.

 

[removed account4]

hi dear

are you saying the album covers that will be distributed will have a hand printed image on them
or the mock-up that will be sent to the printer will be made using a model consisting of a hand coated
cover ?

if it is the first ... i would worry a little bit of the emulsion getting damaged unless it is coated with something
( not sure what though ) maybe a urethane clear coat ?
if it is the second one, i don't think you will have much trouble using the emulsion.
make sure your paper/cardboard or whatever you will be printing on can withstand being washed
and put through the chemistry. some papers are more rigid than others ...
if you have problems getting the emulsion to adhere to the card stock or materials you are printing on
make a sub layer of gelatin that might help. i did that recently ( a few months ago ) with emulsion
that was old and degraded and "having trouble" ... it worked fine ..


using liquid emulsions is a lot of fun. if you really want to get deep into it, you could make a film interpositive
and print onto a glass internegative, using your emulsion, and then contact print the glass plate onto your cover stock

lots of fun

good luck !
john

 

[Dear]

hi dear

are you saying the album covers that will be distributed will have a hand printed image on them
or the mock-up that will be sent to the printer will be made using a model consisting of a hand coated
cover ?

if it is the first ... i would worry a little bit of the emulsion getting damaged unless it is coated with something
( not sure what though ) maybe a urethane clear coat ?
if it is the second one, i don't think you will have much trouble using the emulsion.
make sure your paper/cardboard or whatever you will be printing on can withstand being washed
and put through the chemistry. some papers are more rigid than others ...
if you have problems getting the emulsion to adhere to the card stock or materials you are printing on
make a sub layer of gelatin that might help. i did that recently ( a few months ago ) with emulsion
that was old and degraded and "having trouble" ... it worked fine ..


using liquid emulsions is a lot of fun. if you really want to get deep into it, you could make a film interpositive
and print onto a glass internegative, using your emulsion, and then contact print the glass plate onto your cover stock

lots of fun

good luck !
john

The album covers will be distributed with a hand-printet image on them, in a very low number of special-edition, as an option for the very dedicated fans of this band.
I've asked the band to send me some test covers, so I can try different methods first.

If I will need to coat it with gelatin, what kind/brand would be appropriate to use? Would the stuff you buy for food be ok?

I think you are right about coating the cover AFTER the printing, with some sort of protective layer.

Thanks a lot for the help so far, I'm really looking forward to using liquid emulsion.

-Michell

 

[removed account4]

hi michell

you might look for photo grade gelatin
at the photographer's formulary
it will make your life easier than using what
i tend to use ( food grade knox blox )
which really doesn't work too well ....

you might consider coating paper with it to make your test strips ..
process it in the same chemistry, the same way ... i think hardener might be useful too ...
( so you don't waste all your materials )

considering it is sleeves of cardboard ( before it is folded up into a jacket ? )
you might also consider an alternate way to process the print
a big piece of cardboard will soak up your chemistry like a sponge,
and using a sponge to process, might damage the emulsion ... your project is going to be fun ... and tricky

have fun !

john

 

[MartinP]

Standard resin-coated paper in a large enough size would already be a decent material for hand-made album sleeves wouldn't it? A couple of mockups (prints held together with tape on the back, plus the tabs for gluing), opened out to look like the 'flat' that you'd get from the usual commercial offset-printer, then photographed on the largest neg you can manage. Print the flats on 20x24 or 16x20, trim and glue, slide into an acetate sleeve and there you go??

Edit: You could even use a heavy (300g/sm) FB paper as something like ART300 would cost you a bit more than ten GBP, $16.60, 12,70 EUR per sheet, plus your time and construction materials. It would easily add a lot to the cost (and value?) of the product.

 

[EASmithV]

food grade gelatin works just fine. However, you probably won't need it for porous surface. HINT allow a FULL 24-48 hours drying time after coating, or it will flake off, even on a pre-subbed surface..