Liquid Light application

I hope this is the right forum for this. If not please let me know.

I have some friends in a non profit teaching organization that are trying to coat liquid light onto a paper collage - the effect they are looking for is a black and white image through which the collage can be seen in places of low density. They would like the whole thing to have whatever archival properties it can. The final piece is to be mounted onto plywood.

Their process at this point is to coat the collage with a varnish or lacquer, then coat this with liquid light and expose the LL. They are having trouble with most of the varnishes, in that too much LL doesn't adhere, and too little provides inadequate emulsion for a good image.
The one varnish that works with the LL is one that also turns yellow, not desirable.

One thought is to laminate the collage layer, then coat the laminated piece with LL.
Another is to “thin” or “extend” the LL, and apply it with a screen (“silk screen”) to control the metering of the emulsion.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of application, or any ideas?

You don't say what the collage material is, but if it's paper, you might try coating the collage with hardened gelatin first. The mix I use to prep vellum paper for coating is 5% photo gelatin with 5 drops glyoxal and 5 drops PhotoFlo per 100 ml water. Let the gelatin dry completely and then coat with the LL. I can't tell you if "enough emulsion for a good image" will still be transparent enough to see the underlying collage. The archivalness of the piece will be dependent on the collage material. Mounting on wood will be problematic unless you have an archival barrier between the collage and the wood, and you use an archival adhesive. Good luck. Sounds like an interesting project.

dwross said:

I can't tell you if "enough emulsion for a good image" will still be transparent enough to see the underlying collage. Sounds like an interesting project.

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I tried something similar in the past and as said above, from what I remember, a good coating of LE dries to an opaque layer, so I do wonder if any of the collage would show through too. And when I tried varnishes, despite stating that they would dry 'clear', like yours, they all dried a shade of yellow!

I think it is going to be a try it and see job.

But as also said, an interesting project.

Terry S

Is the paper collage going to be able to withstand the wet processing?

I would consider doing LL on a translucent paper like vellum and overlay on top of the collage (can be waxed to make it more transparent) rather than subjecting the whole collage to developer, fixer, etc even though it will be varnished.

Thanks for replies.
The paper is thin, kind of like paper currency. As I understand it, the purpose of the varnish is to protect it from the liquids of analog printing. I think they have been coating the collage, already mounted to plywood, then coating with LL, then processing the emulsion with a sponge. I think this worked, but they don't like the yellow tint.
I haven't actually seen it myself, this is being done in another state, and the non profit guy helping them is an old photographer friend from the 70's.
I gave him a link to this thread, for him to follow, although not a member, I can post clarifications for him.
Thanks again for the help, any other suggestions would be welcome. I'll try to get responses to your questions.

How about acrylic varnishes - the kind painters use to protect their paintings. They dry to clear colorless film. I have used Liquitex brand varnish on my canvas prints without any adverse effects. It made the print water resistant. Didn't do any wet process on it though.

nmp said:

Is the paper collage going to be able to withstand the wet processing?

I would consider doing LL on a translucent paper like vellum and overlay on top of the collage (can be waxed to make it more transparent) rather than subjecting the whole collage to developer, fixer, etc even though it will be varnished.

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That is a very clever idea. Helix vellum works well for paper negatives. Should do for LL.

I think I've read about using xylene to make vellum more transparent. Not something I'd probably try myself. Some kinds might take wax better than others. I'd be interested in hearing what happens if they try this approach.

hi george
speedball makes a silkscreen emulsion that most likely will work as intended and better than liquid light.
i can't add much other than to suggest you look for non yellowing urethanes ( rockland colloid used to recommend minwax urethane as a sub coat but from personal experience it yellows )
for waxing, paraffin works great, its easy and sort of mess free, not sure of its archival qualites though ,,,

good luck with your project, it looks like you have great minds helping you !
john