Well, you all pretty much got it - no surprise there. It's an (inadvertent) emulsion lift using Fujifilm FP100-C (gloss) left in a bowl of warm instant coffee for around 30 minutes. I was taking another look at how the FP100-C responded to my standard print staining process (as used on Polacolor 125i) and I decided to leave it in for longer than normal. When I went to inspect the print I noticed that the emulsion slipped a little across the top of the backing paper. I decided to try and peel it off and it came away incredibly easily. In fact the only reason it's so crinkled up in this photo is that it came off so quickly I wasn't ready for it and had to run around the room with it rapidly curling and getting stuck to itself while I tried to find some neutral paper to dry it on.
I'd never done an emulsion lift of any sort before, so I wasn't ready for the contraction of the image as it dried - I assume that's common to all lifts? I did a couple more this morning and this time used a heavy art paper to stick the emulsion to instead of the flimsy writing paper I used on this occasion. I'll take a look at them when i get home and hope they're a bit more manageable.
BTW, I tried it this morning with the silk finish film and it works just as well as with the gloss film. Different result as you'd expect, but the method and timings are the same. I also tried one in warm water without the coffee and it worked just the same (albeit without the brown cast).
One other thing; I've just been talking this through with Damion and he mentioned that there's been talk of emulsion lifts resulting in an 'unstable' image once it has been separated from the backing paper. Anyone have any thoughts on whether this is true and if so, what the workarounds are if any?
