manipulating liquid emulsion

Hello,

For the past year I have been experimenting with making my own liquid gelatin silver bromide emulsion and hand pouring onto 5"x7" glass plates.

Recently I have wanted to be more adventurous and experimental with this process. I would like to expose a plate and rehydrate the emulsion so that the latent image may be physically manipulated (i.e. with a gloved finger or a brush), then left to dry before processing. I have tried both heat and soaking thus far and I can't seem to return the emulsion to its soft gelatinous state it exhibited during the original coating. The consistency of the emulsion remains hard, brittle and skin-like.

Any thoughts?

What you've observed is actually the miracle that is gelatin as a matrix. Once dry, it's tough. You might try something like emulsion transfer. If emulsion is coated on Yupo synthetic watercolor paper (actually, a plastic), it sticks long enough to get through the processing and then, before it dries, can be lifted off and transferred to paper or glass. If glass, the emulsion can be shoved around and then left to dry and adhere.