![]() Application of resist – the resist applied with fingers, knife, brush, spray, stencil, roller, sponge, quill, etc.The resist sticks too well, mix it with something that’s more soluble. If the resist is too transparent to see, add some dye / food colouring. Additions to the resist – no need to stick with the basic product – if honey is too thin, add flour or sugar to thicken it up.Type of resist – any product which will adhere to the paper even for a mere second, whether it be varnish, paint, masking fluid, honey, flour paste, egg, clay, butter, or wilder ideas.Since the chemigram is commonly created in broad daylight, fogged paper is not a problem to worry about. Age of paper – if you have a box of expired paper from 1960, don’t overlook it.Any photographic darkroom paper ever produced is a candidate for use with the technique. Type of paper – resin, or fibre based, which manufacturer, which variety, fixed grade, or multigrade, etc.There are an immense range of factors that can be varied to influence the resulting image. The chemigram technique could also be combined with regular photographic processes such as photograms / lumen printing at the artists discretion. Once that is completed, a resist can be applied to the remainder of the paper and further developed/fixed. For example an initial part of the image can be formed by painting developer/fixer onto the paper using a brush. Prayer to the sun by Balazs Sprenc, licensed CC BY-NC-ND The variablesĪs with any artistic process though, there are no strict barriers – elements of each of the three categories can be applied in the same image if desired. This takes the chemigram close to traditional photographic practices. Again the paper will be coated with some kind of resist, but in this technique the resist will be applied using some photographic process such as silk screen printing with photo emulsion. Chemigram with resist applied by photographic process.As the paper is passed back & forth between the developer and fixer, the mask will gradually come off allowing the chemicals to form an image. The paper will be coated with some kind of product that resists the effects of the developer and fixer. ![]() Chemigram with resist applied by hand.Pigment based paints have simply been substituted for photographic developer & fixer. This technique takes the chemigram close to traditional painting practices. The developer / fixer will be applied directly to the paper, using paint brushes, sponges, etched plate, stencils, stamps or any number of other instruments. The chemigram process was invented and pioneered by Pierre Cordier, who sub-divides the practice into three categories: As such the process is best described as “ writing with chemistry”. So the technique involves some method of influencing which areas of the paper get exposed to the chemicals at each step, thus forming the desired image. Obviously if a plain sheet of paper is placed in a bath of developer the whole sheet will go black which won’t be too interesting. ![]() Areas of the paper exposed to developer first will tend towards black (since the paper is fully saturated with light), and areas of the paper exposed to fixer first will tend towards white. The basic idea of a chemigram is that photographic paper is alternately & repeatedly exposed to both developer and fixer. ![]() Chemigram 1.8 olive oil resist, by Carol Shergold, licensed CC BY
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |