What are the most interesting print materials you've seen?

Nicole · Mar 24, 2009

What are some of the most interesting print surfaces/materials you've seen - or even heard of?

Any idea of the processes involved?
If possible, please show an example.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 24, 2009

I really find that liquid emulsion is something that's fun and creative, and at the same time simple to use. It only really requires patience, the rest is easy.

But historically the daguerrotype has always fascinated me. There is at least one practitioner of that art here on APUG. It's a little too dangerous and temperamental for me, so I'll leave it to others, but nonetheless it's fascinating!

- Thomas

keithwms · Mar 24, 2009

I think leaf prints are pretty darn interesting. Also about as simple as can be.

Jim Fitzgerald · Mar 24, 2009

Carbon transfer on aluminum.

Jim

Stephen Samuels · Mar 24, 2009

I once stood in front of Robert Mapplethorpe's Head of Mercury - platinum on white silk alongside a square of rich purple fabric the same size as the photo. May not be the most unconventional of materials but it knocked this boy on his butt.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 24, 2009

VanDyke on burlap - again not the most exotic ever, but it was certainly challenging both technically and artistically (making the subject matter jive with the texture of the substrate).

Kerik · Mar 24, 2009

Wet plate collodion on a piece of mica. A Micatype?

sanking · Mar 24, 2009

I assume this is a mica sheet?

Where does one buy large mica sheets?

Sandy King

Kerik said:
Wet plate collodion on a piece of mica. A Micatype?

Kirk Keyes · Mar 24, 2009

Make sure you get asbestos-free mica...

Anton Lukoszevieze · Mar 24, 2009

collodion on black glass ambrotype and/or waxed salt print (not particularly modern......

davido · Mar 24, 2009

In Christopher James' The Book of Alternative Processes there is an image by Karen Oganyan - a Vandyke on news print. It's the silhouette of what appears a smoldering volcano printed on the financial page of a newspaper. Not very archival but very cool.

-david

Jim Fitzgerald · Mar 24, 2009

sanking said:
I assume this is a mica sheet?

Where does one buy large mica sheets?

Sandy King

Sandy, you have to be thinking what I'm thinking?

Jim

sanking · Mar 25, 2009

Hi Jim,

Go for it.

I just bought a lot of heavyweight watercolor paper that I plan to size. With that, and the aluminum, I may not have time for mica also.

Sandy

Jim Fitzgerald said:
Sandy, you have to be thinking what I'm thinking?

Jim

Lukas Werth · Mar 25, 2009

I once tried to print with casein/gum (direct pigment, in this case cobalt oxide) on ceramic tiles which were then glazed over. I was successful of sorts: the result was a blue image with beautiful tonations and shadows, but there were some blisters in the glazing which were difficult to get rid off (not impossible, that is, but I spopped my experiments at that point for other reasons.

Akki14 · Mar 25, 2009

I think if i ever get around to perfecting my semi-modern physautotypes, they might be more interesting. At the moment the pouring and the fact their exposure time ranges to about 5 hours with a fan on it at all times, keeps me from moving forward... and need to do more positives on APHS film for it too.

Kerik · Mar 25, 2009

sanking said:
I assume this is a mica sheet?

Where does one buy large mica sheets?

Sandy King

This was a small micatype made by Mark Osterman I saw at his home a few years ago. Maybe 3x4 inches or so. Don't know where he got it. It was an experiment, not an entire portfolio. But, it looked pretty cool!

Rich Ullsmith · Mar 25, 2009

Kodagraph Transtar TP5. You can fold it, backlight it like a transparency, write on the emulsion with pencil (and erase), and it's red-hot in lith. You can print through the back, and with a strong enough light project it on a wall.

I've been told it was a graphic-arts paper, but the way in which it was marketed (very expensive, only sold in large sheets and rolls), the ambiguity of its purposed uses on the data sheet (which actually contains no data), and the fact that I cannot locate anybody in Kodagraph Ontario where it was produced who has ever heard of it, this tells me it was not produced for the masses.

Always interested to hear from anybody who knows anything about it.

2F/2F · Mar 25, 2009

I am a sucker for cyanotype and gum dichromate prints. I also like VDB prints, especially when they turn out being a very dark brown; almost black.

Don12x20 · Mar 25, 2009

sanking said:
I assume this is a mica sheet?

Where does one buy large mica sheets?

Sandy King

...look for stove window replacements on that auction place, for example

http://cgi.ebay.com/PARLOUR-WOOD-ST...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

mike c · Mar 29, 2009

Saturday I went to the RIVERSIDE SHOW AND LOOKED at the carbon transfer prints Jim had there, what beautiful prints. I've never see one live and close up, now I can understand its interest and popularity .Jim described the process to me in laymans terms how they were made . Was very impressed with the whole technique. This is the last day of the RIVERSIDE SHOW. So if you are interested to talk or see better go. Its free, and they have other photographers as well.
Mike c.

Jim Fitzgerald · Mar 30, 2009

mike c said:
Saturday I went to the RIVERSIDE SHOW AND LOOKED at the carbon transfer prints Jim had there, what beautiful prints. I've never see one live and close up, now I can understand its interest and popularity .Jim described the process to me in laymans terms how they were made . Was very impressed with the whole technique. This is the last day of the RIVERSIDE SHOW. So if you are interested to talk or see better go. Its free, and they have other photographers as well.
Mike c.

Mike, thanks for the nice comments on my images. I'm always glad to talk about carbon transfer. I try to keep it simple but sometimes my enthusiasm takes over and I get crazy talking about it. I always have to thank Sandy and Vaughn for getting me started.

Jim

mike c · Mar 30, 2009

Thanks for showeing interst in my qestions,you made a very understandble and clear discribtion of the procress Jim. mike

Struan Gray · Mar 30, 2009

Sandy, if you're looking for the naturally black form of Mica (found under the catchall name of 'biotite') in order to get the same tonal inversion as in a tintype, you will probably have to go to a mineral dealer. It absorbs light very well, so if you can find a sheet you can always make more by cleaving it into thinner sheets still.

If you want the transparant type there are consumer applications like the stove windows mentioned by Don which make large-ish sheets easier to find. Small pieces - up to an inch square - of very high quality are also available quite cheaply from microscope suppliers.

To answer the original question: I love intaglio printing, so I would have to go with photogravure. I am still looking for colour photogravures to see if I like them as much as I think I will.

Katharine Thayer · Apr 3, 2009

Lukas Werth said:
I once tried to print with casein/gum (direct pigment, in this case cobalt oxide) on ceramic tiles which were then glazed over. I was successful of sorts: the result was a blue image with beautiful tonations and shadows, but there were some blisters in the glazing which were difficult to get rid off (not impossible, that is, but I spopped my experiments at that point for other reasons.

Lukas, I'm really interested in your description, since I'm about to try printing gum on some ceramic floor tiles that the previous owner of the house left here. These are glazed, not shiny glazed but smooth and slick enough that I'm going to need to fashion some way of helping the gum adhere. I'm thinking I'll sand the tiles and then use pumice in acrylic to add tooth. Then if I could print gum on that successfully, I was thinking of using some sort of sealer on them. I'm not clear from your description; were these unglazed tiles that you printed on and then glazed and fired? That would probably be the most reliably durable way of printing on tile.
Katharine

mike c · Apr 3, 2009

Jim, my daughter mentioned that you might start a class on carbon transfer . have you planed a date yet?
mike c.

What are the most interesting print materials you've seen?

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