Sam Wang (stwang@CLEMSON.EDU)
Tue, 11 May 1999 16:45:47 -0400
Dick,
>My theory says:
>PVA is known to absorb dyes. If a layer of PVA was put on Mylar and was
>then dichromated dried and exposed, the exposed areas would harden and be
>less absorptive. When exposed piece was soaked in a dye, the hardened areas
>would absorb less dye thus producing an image. I suspect doing it on paper
>would be difficult if not impossible since the paper would absorb the dye
>as well so a Mylar base instead of paper would be in order.
What you describe is very different from what I did. Back when I did it, it
was very much like carbon except the result was tougher, I think (now, I
KNOW how tough dried gelatin can be - when I used it for silkscreen some
was left in a film can and years later it was hard as a rock).
One of the drawbacks of the way I did it was that the image is "line" or
extremely high contrast. If you use a halftone negative it would work fine,
or it will look like it has been through "threshold" in Photoshop.
The procedure, basically is: dilute Elmer's School Glue with equal parts
water, add pigment and dichromate, and coat. After exposure, apply rubbing
alcohol to it and add water as needed till where it's supposed to clear is
clear. That's it.
I thought about doing a transfer, like that of carbon printing, in order to
retain the continuous tones, but, like so many other things in life, never
got around to it. I do believe there is great potential for experimentation
and one of the nice things is that it can adhere to anything, like aluminum
or glass, and can withstand weather, I believe (think - architectural
context).
Sam
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