New multicontrast liquid emulsion and printing onto canvas

[Jarvman]

I've just bought a pile of cheap 10x8" artists canvases from a bargain store today at 99p each and want to print images onto them using liquid emulsion to get a painterly effect. I was thinking of printing images from 35mm negs using my focomat and splitgrade system, raising the column to the height of an easel plus the canvas on top to get it in the correct place for focusing. Then I could align the image on an unsensitised canvas and use the magic probe to work out a decent exposure. The thought behind this being I wouldn't have to make test strips then. It could be easy enough to cut the canvas into 5 two inch test strips with a saw though. The reason I was thinking of using the new emulsion is because it has a contrast latitude and will respond to whatever reading the splitgrade throws out. The one problem being that the controller is only programmed for different papers and not liquid emulsion and so it might not react so well. Has anybody had experience with putting images on canvas like this? Would this idea be a good way to approach it?I'm thinking perhaps not. Any advice on how to go about doing this would be great thanks.

 

[Jeff Bannow]

I tried cyanotyping onto canvas recently, and found that the cheap canvas I bought wouldn't absorb any of the chemicals. Turns out it was precoated with a white paint acrylic base coat. Something to look out for if you didn't already check.