Topic: Oh No! He's On The Bleach Again!

[Ed Wenn]

Yep, I found that if you take a secret bleaching agent (called bleach) and a paintbrush to a b/w Fuji instant print, you can work wonders. I had a few prints lying around and had a bit of a play. These are the first two - and by far the worst - but since I'm saving the best ones for the "Where did my life go?" collaboration, they're all you get for now.

I'm excited by the possibilities, but annoyed that I've stumbled across a great little technique which may only work on yet another soon-to-be-obsolete type of film. Gah!

I took the photo of Leon & he took the one of me. Tachihara 5x4 + FP-100B45 (or whatever it's called...I can never remember).

[calbisu]

Nice ones! I had been thinking of it, but one thing is to think about it and a different one to do it!! Do you dilute the bleach with water or is just purrrre bleach?  Waiting to see more!

[Ed Wenn]

Hi Carlos, on this occasion I used full concentration, very thick bleach and a paintbrush w/ rough bristles. I had just been clearing the black backing from some Fujinegs, so I had the tools to hand. There's definitely scope to use sponges, diluted bleach, paper towels etc. etc. After 2 or 3 attempts you start working out a technique. It's actually pretty good fun. The bleach only takes 2-10 seconds to affect the print.

Also, as an extra point of interest, careful bleaching can be used to get more out of an underexposed print. My face (I'm the one on the right) was very dark in the original, but a bit of light brushing with bleach brought out a load of detail. Of course, I wasn't attempting to be subtle, so I went a bit over the top, but it was interesting to note and maybe pursue later.

[calbisu]

Well Mr. Ed you are not alone!!!  The Bleach Technique now is applied on the other side of the World!! Still not into your technique, but I will eventually do, I was thinking something similar as when you manipulate with pressure the SX70 polas...and yes the brush with diluted bleach is really an option, also with a fine stick... by now two ¨standard¨bleached POlas.

[Ed Wenn]

Very nice, indeed. The top one almost looks like it was stained in coffee!!

Which film is this?

[Francois]

Just to reassure you, it also works on RC paper (I had tried it quite a few years ago)

[Mojave]

Do you rinse the bleach off?

[Diane Peterson]

calbisu...that first shot of the clothing on the line almost looks 3 dimensional..fabulous!

[Francois]

Do you rinse the bleach off?

I know I did when I tried it on RC... but on other mediums which have the emulsion trapped in a gelatin layer, the process will soften up the gelatin quite a bit making the image very fragile.

[Mojave]

Thank you Francois! I will try it with a rinse and without.

[Phil Bebbington]

You guys are far more adventurous that I am - great work from the pair of you.

[Ed Wenn]

Do you rinse the bleach off?

Absolutely! With full strength bleach the image on FP-100B disappears in about 20 seconds. Some of the better images I ended up with got bleached 5-10 times with rinsing in between. Rinsing didn't seem to cause any problems. I was really rough with the paper too and it held up perfectly.

[calbisu]

Ed, I used FP 100C, the first one I applied some contrast with PS. I do not why sometimes they have this yellow hue and others not, I think is more related to the scanning process than the ¨negative¨ itself.

This was my first time using Thick Bleach. For the truck one I just poured thich bleach on it and watied 20 minutes, mystake. For the seconde one I poured the bleach, spread it over and almost immediately removed with paper towel. After that I just removed the negative from the glass base and rinse it with water. This method seems much easier and safer than with ¨normal bleach¨.

[Francois]

Actually, even RC papers turns weird colors when bleached that way...

[Ed Wenn]

Carlos...just to clear up what might be a misunderstanding; I'm not bleaching the black backing from negative as we've discussed here previously. I'm actually painting bleach directly onto the top of the positive side of the peel apart.

...however, I agree 100% that the thick bleach method (as recommend by Trask) is by far the safest for Fujineg work.

[Francois]

But you have to have the stuff available on the shelf... I did mine with regular bleach. What's strange is that you put it down with a brush and nothing happens for a few seconds. Then, you add some more and you start to see the black silver lift out of the paper and settle onto the brush.

Also, I think it releases some nasty fumes...

[Ed Wenn]

Also, I think it releases some nasty fumes...

In Amy & Joe I have two producers of nasty fumes at home already...adding more to the mix doesn't make much difference!

 

[Francois]

Is that as in after pork and beans? 

[calbisu]

Ed, Yep, I see what u mean. I thought you were painting a recovered negative.. Well, still bleach involved!! 
I tried myself to paint (the recovered negative) but not success yet... bleach was too diluted...).

[jojonas~]

ah, a world of possebilities~ I'll have to try it out on RC paper. love to play around in the darkroom

but pure bleach is the recommended one, right? dunno what kinds I can find here

[Ed Wenn]

Jonas, "pure" in this context just means that the bleach is straight out of the bottle and not diluted further by me. Any bleach will do. I had the extra thick bleach to hand and it works well because it's easier to control...that's all.

[jojonas~]

oh ok. I guess it's the consistency bit I'm thinking about then. had plans some years back to try to splatter it on clothing, back when I dressed more punk-ish ;P

[beck]

I can only manage a moment from my sick bed to post this photograph as it sat brewing in a cup for a week filled with....um, my pee. Yes, pee. I thought I read somewhere here that pee can be used it one of the stages of film development? I'm too lazy to look. I immersed the picture in a tall cup and left a corner unexposed to see how the urine colored the area that was. I'm not talking right so I have to go. The smell is sick I can tell you. But some folk like that well I reckon. Only for the moment surly, but not a weeks worth of pure gold. My fetishes could be worse you know. Thank you for peeing...er, seeing.

Oh, to dry the photograph after being rinsed, I hit it with the hair dryer and the way it hardened the glossy surface of the Fuji3000B....was very interesting. It appeared as a lacquer/shellac finish. I was actually surprised that this film (paper) could be held captive in such and thought when it was time to pluck it out nothing would be left. That was not the case. Give it a try and report back. You know you want to.

I have another idea using my womanly goods and will see about it soon....

[Ed Wenn]

Erm....

[Ed Wenn]

But seriously; thanks for taking the time to crawl from your sick bed to post. This is fascinating stuff indeed and looks like a 'job' well done. Not to mention that the photo itself is absolutely stunning. The shellac-like finish sounds great. I suspect that if I tried the same, one of the kids would drink it...or at the very least play with it and I'd probably get told off by Jacqui (BTW, have you seen a photo of her recently? She's been getting into fights.)

My experiences with Fujfilm peel apart and various staining agents bear out your surprise at how well the stuff deals with extended periods of soaking. The Fuji can take it! The Pola peel apart was way less sturdy and the image would wash away much more quickly. The only problem with the Fuji colour peel apart is that if you soak it for too long (even in cold liquid) the print will separate from the backing and just float around. That's great for doing lifts, but less useful if you're just after a bit of a stain.

Because of my adventures with staining peel apart started with Polacolor 125i I went straight to the colour Fuji once I'd reluctantly decided to turn my attention to a brand that was still in business - can we all take a moment to mourn the passing of 125i (sniff!). The FP-100C however is a tricky beast and hard to stain in a satisfying manner (and I assure listeners that we are still on a photo tip at this point and that we haven't moved over into anything more 'special interest'). For that reason I didn't get very far with those experiments.

I had a couple of packs of FP-100B45 lying around and in honour of Leon's recent visit to Wenn Mansions I opened one of them. For those of you who don't know, Leon denies the existence of colour film of any sort  It turns out that the b/w Fuji peel apart is much easier to stain and manipulate in related ways than it's colourful sibling and now I'm kicking myself for not having stocked up on the bl**dy stuff while it was still in production. Grr! It seems everything I like working with eventually gets withdrawn or closed down.

I have a few packs left and will prolly pick up some more on evilBay etc. in the coming years, but it's a shame that it's winding down. I need to find a killer process for the FP-100C - in addition to the neg reclaim of course.

The search continues.

[Photo_Utopia]

Nice photo Beck no matter what the 'brew' 

I think my wife would tolerate Rodinal in the kitchen but pee in a tea cup and 'you're in' trouble.
Hope you get well soon.

Mark Antony

[Francois]

Beck - Get some rest. Only patience will make it better.

As for pee... you didn't get inspiration from Warhol's pee paintings did you?
Just thinking about the stench makes my hair curl...

I wonder if the pee soaked print glows under black light like so many body fluids?

[Ed Wenn]

This has suddenly gone all CSI!
 

[Phil Bebbington]

Ed, is CSI some kind of mnemonic?

[LT]

Ed, is CSI some kind of mnemonic?

Colour using Septic Influences perhaps?

[Francois]

I always thought it stood for "Can't Smell Imstuffed"

[Ed Wenn]

Inspired by Carlos's bleached contributions to the current "Weekend" thread, I felt called to try out some print bleaching on Polacolor 125i and Fujifilm FP-100c. All was quiet at home (very rare!) and I had 10 minutes before I was due to walk through the skating rink that is my part of South London to take the tube into work.

I dashed upstairs and grabbed some prints from the "No Good: use for experimentation" pile (and believe me....it's a big pile). Shot back to the kitchen, grabbed the thick bleach and a paintbrush and got stuck in.

The FP-100C shows some promise and I'll be revisiting in a more considered manner when I have more time. However, it takes a lot more bleach to get any serious effect going - as opposed to the FP-100B which reacted almost immediately even with weaker concentrations of bleach.

The Polacolor 125i is still a bit of an unknown as the only print I tried was really dark and had a strong green/blue tint to it. I like the way I got Jacqui to look like a skeleton, but I need to try a few more before I decide if it's worth pursuing. Probably not, given that I like staining 125i with coffee already in addition to which it's not made any more.

Am excited by the possibilities for the FP-100C though. All snaps taken with my phone before I left for work and then 'edited' using MS Paint. Next time I'll have some proper scans for you to inspect.

In case you hadn't worked it out already the top two prints are the FP-100C and the third one is 125i.

[calbisu]

Wow, Beck contribution is just wild   I do not know what to say..   I am not sure I will try, may be lemon juice might do... This thread is becoming really instructive!!!

[beck]

Wow, Beck contribution is just wild   I do not know what to say..   I am not sure I will try, may be lemon juice might do... This thread is becoming really destructive!!!

Hahaha.

[beck]

I like this thread. Fun stuff. More of the same.

I used some of that gel bleach with a bit of water to dilute and applied it to the very dark areas, almost black, background, with a q-tip. It totally lightened the leaves and such where you could not see hidden underneath the under exposed regions of the photograph. Something like that. I think this is type 665, print side. I have it soaking in some brown food coloring to see how it absorbs. I forgot to take a before and after picture too after applying the bleach. Consider the source.

[Blaxton]

I have been enjoying this.  Unfortunately, since I have no instant film of any kind (nor any camera with which to use it), I can't participate productively.  If I find time, then I will compose an opera scene out of the text from this thread.  In the meantime, I look forward to more bleach-pics.  Bravo, all.

[Ed Wenn]

Beck: Excellent work as always. I love th fact that you can get some detail from the black parts of the print. Great isn't it!

From this morning. Bleaching amongst the ruins of breakfast. Fun for all the family  

Polacolor 125i and a smaller, softer paintbrush. I used a Q-Tip to start with, but it was too big. Again, nothing too serious (in fact they're all kind of rubbish). I was just trying out the bleach with the 125i properly.



Bigger here.

[Francois]

Again, nothing too serious (in fact they're all kind of rubbish). I was just trying out the bleach with the 125i properly.

Well... I'm sure there's some modern art collector out there who would just love the raw aspect of it