LIQUID LIGHT HELP WANT TO PRINT ON LEATHER

Hi there,

I am looking to expose on image onto chamois leather using liquid light and I want to chamois elather to retain its fabric like qualities so its soft and malleable, is there anyway to do this because everyone keeps telling me I cant but im sure there is a way.

Ive never used liquid light before so suggestions are very much welcome!

Hi Amaliaf

im no t sure if my suggestions will be helpful but you might try taking a scrap or 2 of the chamois / leather and soaking or brushing hard bloom ( photo grade ) gelatin on it (. NOn flavored Knox might work ) with the Gardner that came with your emulsion and the other with something like polyurethane and coat it with your emulsion and harden it and just expose it to sunlight and then run it/ them through your chemicals and see what happens... the problem might be that the emulsion lies on top of your surface and not embedded inside it. I know it’s not the same but you might also think about the cyanotype process and bleaching the blue tone out with washing/. Baking soda and tone it with black tea. In Christopher James alternative process book he lists all sorts of ways to tone cyanotypes so they look tonaly like a silver print ( sort of ). And there used to be an article PDF I uploaded in the resources section called print photos on anything and it lists ways of printing on fabrics. ( sun printing ) these things might not be what you are interested in ...
not sure if I was much help ...

have fun
John

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/aj-12-various-things.43177/

Would the application of gelatin on leather be flexible though?*
The cyanotype may be OK if the image is absorbed into the leather but the OP wants to retain the softness.

I've never used either process but think(?) I've seen something about printing on fabric. A book that has several different types
including liquid light is "the new photography" by Catherine Reed and Marilyn Sward.

I suspect you will find chemicals in the leather will contaminate the emulsion. But hey - find out for yourself!

The biggest issues I had with coating canvas with emulsion was processing chemicals getting trapped behind the emulsion, by soaking in at the edges and through the back. Canvas has an easy fix of course - size it and prime it well, and if necessary put a coat of poly on before the emulsion. Essentially you're making sort of an "RC canvas", where processing chems can only get in through the emulsion surface.

For chamois leather, priming is out - OP could experiment with soaking the leather in PVA sizing though, which would stiffen it, so you'd want it to dry with the folds/wrinkles/whatever that you want the final to have.

Been thinking of emulsion on brown kraft paper, with the highlights of the image first painted on, so similar problems would ensue. Haven't experimented with it yet though.

Thanks everyone for your replies,

I have decided to do several experiments on the chamois coated with yacht varnish (has polyurethane in), PVA and one without. What kind of consistency does the emulsion have, is it thick or will it drip off an overly shiny surface?