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03/29/2004 Entry: "photo filled days"

Incredibly productive time in my alt-process class Saturday, though my legs still ache from standing for so long. We started with looking over a big box full of handbound books, getting some inspiration for display and presentation of our final projects. I'm in good shape there, with the materials and ideas coming together nicely. My biggest worry was if the linen tape I have would be strong enough to act as hinge material in an accordion book.

From there it was off to the chemical area to mix up a liter of each of the three components for the Van Dyke emulsion. I hope to extend the shelf life of the solutions by only mixing 100ml at a time. The quart bottles from the photo store were a bit too small to hold a full liter of the solutions. The excess materials were mixed to give me some fresh VDB emulsion and also act as a test of the formula I used. Seems to be just right from the prints I did Sunday.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to churning out 8x10 negatives on lith film. Pretty much routine stuff after the first one or two, so I was delighted by the distraction of a student working on her thesis project. She was printing several 4x5 negs using the platinum/palladium process. The prints themselves were just lovely, delicate browns and tans with incredible detail. I was enthralled by the process, especially the "instant development" when the developer is dumped on the print. Magic! Ka-Powie, there it is! Some day I'll splurge on a kit and try it myself.

As the evening darkened, I left MICA and headed for the studio to try some more light paint experiments and to give the 35mm in a medium format pinhole a try. Results were pretty bleak with underexposed light paint and "wandering" film - shifting from side to side - in the pinhole. I'll see what, if anything, can be salvaged in the darkroom tonight.