I could not resist the urge to add something to this photosensitive emulsion print. When comparing this sample to the larger collage produced from the original water colour I felt the strong blue within the flowers gave the shapes more depth.

By using the sewing machine to add areas of colour within the shapes, the print took on a completely different feel. Not only to the eye but to the touch.

Stitching into the thick water colour paper this has transformed the surface to give a feel of an expensive fabric. Not only that if you shine a light through the paper it makes an interesting pattern in a surface showing the shape of the flowers in a completely different way. That is one thing I did not consider at all. 

   

Always good to see the reverse of a sample. I particularly like the suggestion of the colours from the right side of the sample.

When watching the DVD Picture It In Collage And Stitch by Richard Box he recommends you to always have the same or similar colour in the bobbin as you are using at the top of the sewing machine.

This advice I did follow when producing the original collage piece but by the time I came to produce this sample time was short so I stopped changing the bottom bobbin.

In this case I think that is has given a different dimension to the sample, using mostly white thread in the bobbin and a slightly tighter tension has brought a small amount of the front threads through to the back giving a small hint of the colours use.    

I could not resist the urge to add something to this photosensitive emulsion print. When comparing this sample to the larger collage produced from the original water colour I felt the strong blue within the flowers gave the shapes more depth.

By using the sewing machine to add areas of colour within the shapes, the print took on a completely different feel. Not only to the eye but to the touch.

Stitching into the thick water colour paper this has transformed the surface to give a feel of an expensive fabric. Not only that if you shine a light through the paper it makes an interesting pattern in a surface showing the shape of the flowers in a completely different way. That is one thing I did not consider at all.    

The image above shows several samples put together. This is to show the different types of affects you can get with solar paper and liquid or gel light sensitive emulsion.

I quite like this technique, however the negative Image of the water colour was not the best image to use. There is not enough contrast within some area in the image.

As I plan to use a technique using emulsion paint to transfer my imagery within the work for the setting up a business on a shoe string assignment. It was suggested that I could explore other types of image transfer.

One of my colleagues had been experimenting with photosensitive emulsions and had produced some very interesting examples. So after an interesting and informative demonstration I set to and produced several samples some of which make up the sample above.

The lighter bottom section of the sample is the Silverprint+ solar paper. This is a very easy product to use, I placed the negative on to the paper and put this in the light exposure unit, making sure the negative is between the light and the paper. I exposed the paper and negative for around 5 minutes (the timings had already been determined by my Colleague) when the time was up I simply washed the paper in water. The areas that were exposed to the light stayed and the areas that were not washed away. As the paper dried the colour became much stronger.

The middle blue section of the sample was produced using a light sensitive emulsion gel I painted on to some median weight water colour paper. This is exposed in the same way as the Silverprint+ solar paper.

The black sections of the sample used again a light sensitive emulsion however this emulsion has to be developed as you would develop a photograph. 

This is such a versatile technique that can be used on almost every surface both 2D and 3D. Within my research I found a pair of canvas shoes that had an image produced in the same way. (I need to make a note of this thinking back to the Menorcan sandal idea!) very interesting. within the three types put together to make the sample i feel that the most successful is the black one. using the thick water colour paper allows the texture of the paper come through the gel. However this could be eliminated by adding more gel. Therefore the texture and depth of colour can be controlled to get a larger range of effects.    

The image above is the wallpaper I use to back the silk when using the cellulose thinners. I did not expect to get such an interesting image this is the type of image I would expect to get if too much cellulose thinners are used on when producing a sample. You can see the rubbing marks quite clearly but you can still see the original image quit clearly.

I do think that the wallpaper use here is the reason the silk sample has tuner out so well, absorbing all the excess cellulose thinners and colour from the photocopy. leaving an interesting ghost like image. The question is, what to do to paper to develop further or is it just one of those samples that is left to stand on its own? 

When developing the cellulose thinner samples, I did use the technique on some calico fabric this did work well, but however not as strong as the silk and wallpaper samples. 

If time allows I plan to develop this sample by working into the background, leaving the floral elements of the image as the cellulose treasurer, time will tell!    

One of the techniques I have used in the development of sampling within this assignment is cellulose thinners. This technique can work well on both paper and fabrics depending on the thickness and absorbency of the paper of fabric you choose to use. You also need a good quality photocopied image to work with, full colour works well in my experience.

I have found when you use black and white photocopied images with grey toned areas within the image this can give a blurred and fuzzy image when transferred.

The image above is a transferred image of my original water colour on fine silk using cellulose thinners.

I was very impressed with the result as I did not expect to get an image that was so clear. I also like the effect left on the fabric from the rubbing of the original image.