> Greetings all:
>
> My assistant, working here today on a project of her own, has run into
> trouble & I offered to ask The List for advice, in case others have found
> & solved these problems.
>
> The project is to make large (24 by 30 inches) Liquid Light
> photographs on plexiglas. Tests on smaller supports (8x10 inch plexi) were
> fine. The plexi had a coat of gloss polyurethane brushed on as undercoat;
> when that dried the warmed Liquid Light emulsion was spread on by pouring
> and tilting, as for collodion.
>
> These techniques did not work with the larger piece of plexi, however. She
> had to dilute the polyurethane (about 15%) with mineral spirits to be able
> to coat the larger area, otherwise it dried in some sections, leaving
> brush strokes. The emulsion also had to be diluted (with about 20% hot tap
> water) so that it would flow over the larger area.
>
> She'd gotten good strong prints on the tests, but working larger
> in this way got only the faintest foggy tones -- on top of which, the poly
> tended to peel off.
>
> She has some instructions from a book that say you can dilute Liquid
> Light: Should she have used two coats? Should she dilute with distilled
> water? Given two coats of the poly?
>
> Any other suggestions? It's hard to see why those relatively minor
> dilutions gummed up the works, but they did.
>
> Any clues would be most gratefully received.
>
> Judy
>
Judy, these are just guesses, but perhaps one may help with some of the
problems.
1. Mineral spirits will leave an oily residue, which might explain the
adherance problems.
2. Why not use semi-gloss, which should have more "tooth" than the
glossy, and adhere better.
3. The "oil" in the mineral spirits may have caused the print problem,
not the dilution. (Again, just a guess)
4. Rather than dilute the emulsion with hot water, why not keep the plexi
warm while coating, so that it will flow better.
Good luck- keep us posted.
Best
John