A friend of mine was working in a rather strange (strange to me, a kind of
straight laced "pure photographer") fashion and got the kind of effect that
I think you are looking for. She refered to the process as "physical
development" and it was acheived by using EXHAUSTED developer and very long
development times. When she did this the result was what I refered to as
"gilded" (spelling?) and although it was a purely photographic image it
looked like it was made of gold (sometimes silver) metal. Beyond that, I
can' t give you much information on just how she acheived the effect.
Also, one of the manufactures (maybe Sprint, or Rockland) made a product
called Halo Chrome (I think) which was supposed to give your images a silver
metalic look. Sorry I can't be more specific but I've never used the stuff
myself and therefore am passing it along only as a possibility. This stuff
isn't that far in the past so there is a good chance that it's still
available.
Maybe someones else out there has some info on these techniques?
Hal
-----Original Message-----
From: Jacques Verschuren <fotjver@wxs.nl>
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca <alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca>
Date: Saturday, March 14, 1998 3:46 AM
Subject: gold
>I am looking for a means to add the colour gold onto a (black and white)
>picture. I don't mean Goldtoner, but something (maybe a toner? or
>pigments?) that adds a somewhat transparant layer to (a part of) the
>image. It should be visible, but not just when you hold the image in
>your hand and move it somewhat so that the light hits it and the gold
>reflects.
>
>I have been messing around with pens, but they sort of cover the
>underlying image and are in no way transparant. I have tried Palegold
>(Schmincke), which is a sort of paste to be mixed with e.g. linseed oil,
>but it doesn't really mix with the emulsion; it tends to stay on top of
>the emulsion and doesn't really show, unless you move your paper, so
>that the light will hit the gold and it will reflect. Using pigments
>might be possible, but how (with what) are they to be mixed in order to
>blend into the emulsion of my photographic paper? Maybe there is after
>all a sort of toner, which will produce (real) gold.
>
>Jacques Verschuren
>
>