Question - coating textured surfaces

[M Carter]

Hey Emulsioneers - I've got my brush coating skills coming along, and the emulsion I'm using needs two coats for textured surfaces (one coat just doesn't cut it).

But I'm wondering, to get a more even coating - would there be any harm to, say, doing one coat, drying, and then doing 2 more coats with the emulsion cut 50% with distilled water (and dry fully in between)? So I assume the same amount of emulsion in the end, but less chance for brush strokes?

I'll probably test this sometime soon, unless there are reasons this won't work.

(I'm using the Foma liquid emulsion, not a home brew. Really liking the stuff… blacks are like a velvet Elvis painting!)

 

[brokenglytch]

Sounds like a good theory and I'd be curious to hear what the answer is, but I don't know off hand. I read in user guide that I can try and dig up the link to here in a while that the 'best method' this photographer had found was to heat just enough of Rockland Colloid Liquid Light for the project and decant it into an opaque 35mm film canister with 5mL of Photo Flo and to stir slowly with a wooden coffee stirrer to incorporate it without making many bubbles. He says this helps get an even spread as he's coating the plate and keeps him from heating too much of the Liquid Light since it fogs if you warm it up too many times. The article was specifically referencing using Liquid Light to make photographic plates for a large format camera, so even spread was even more critical since he'd be using the plate for enlarging.

I would imagine cutting with water would effectively be the same, minus the giving Kodak money part. I might even suggest making friends with someone that knows a bit of chemistry or doing some digging on the internet to see if there isn't an alcohol that might work better so as not to give you an excessive drying time.