Please help! i HAVE RECENTLY BOUGHT A DAYLAB JR SLIDE PRINTER & ALL THIS WEEK TRIED TO GET IMAGES TO NO AVAIL i AM PRODUCING BROWNY-PINK SPLODGES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO IMAGE. i AM SURE THAT i AM FOLLOWING ADVICE, SOAKING THE WATERCOLOUR PAPER, USING A GOOD SLIDE & EXPERIMENTING WITH THE LENGTH OF TIME THE NEGATIVE DEVELOPS BEFORE APPLYING TO THE PAPER. wHAT THE HELL AM i DOING WRONG!cOULD SOMEONE GIVE ME DETAILED ADVICE ON THEIR PROCEDURE. pLEASE HELP THIS DESPERATE WOMAN!

-- Maria Allen (mariaallen@hotmail.com), October 02, 1999

Answers

Perhaps your paper is too wet. I remove excess of water from my watercolor paper after soaking with the aid of bloating paper and roller. I will try to describe my procedure for a wet image transfer and add it to my web site.

-- Marek Uliasz (uliasz@frii.com), October 02, 1999.

either watercolor paper is too wet as said before or is your film REALLY outdated? are you heating the paper as it transfers onto the paper? waiting long enough before removing? sliding the image around and not adhering to the paper? keep trying! it's not rocket science and maybe the transfer fairy will smile on you on the next try.

-- Mary Hagler (rmhagler@netwalk.com), October 04, 1999.

We all recall the agonies of learning this process.Courage. Buy Kathleen Carr's book (I can send title but you can find it via Amazon.com under 'Kathleen Carr'). It sounds as if perhaps you're not closing the little door in the front of the Daylab. Are you using 3x4 (669) film or 4x5--? If the latter, Polacolor 100 is very difficult to work with. Try Polaroid 59. When starting out, it's probably best to use the smaller size (3x4, 669). Do you know about pulling the tabs? Not to pull the white tab until after exposure? then the white tab, and then the black tab. (This applies only to 669 film-- the smaller size). As for general approach: I soak hot press watercolor paper (Arches or Fabriano Artistico) for 2-3 minutes in water heated to 90 degrees, then take it out and hold up to drain off excess water, put down on glass (or other very smooth surface), squeegee water off with a windshield wiper or other squeegee-- gently. (You can put a piece of newsprint or paper towel on top of the glass and under the paper to absorb some of the water). I keep a heating pad under the glass to keep it warm--not hot. Expose film. Take it out, cut end off w. scissors, peel apart, place film on paper, careful not to move it around while placing. Use small rubber roller-- 5-6 rolls in one direction, medium pressure. I leave the film on the paper for 2 minutes, sometimes less. Pick up one corner and carefully roll back. People who do this have each developed their own techniques and variations. There is no one "right way" -- it's a matter of experimentation (how much depends in part on your budget). Hope this is helpful. Margery H

-- Margery Franklin (mbfranklin@earthlink.net), October 04, 1999.

Thanks for the detailed response to Maria's guestion, Margery. I just got finished making my first attempts with my new Daylab Two. Not too bad, I supose. I had two out of five that were passable. This is my first time solo. I was able to get two good ones out of twelve at a polaroid workshop, so my success rate is sky rocketing. The biggest problem that I am having is the blacks and blues sticking to the negative. I adjusted my exposure thinking I could reduce the amount of dye left on the neg, but it just made it worse. I will have to try the heating pad idea. I suspect that my paper is cooling of too much before I make my exposure. Hey just had an idea: Make my exposure, then soak my paper at 90 degrees, then go back and pull the film. Any way I am glad I found this forum. Thank God for Al Gore... Inventor of the internet. Hang in there Maria.

-- Danny Holcomb (danny0007@aol.com), October 09, 1999.

I had a similar problem, and realised (how EMBARASSING) that I forgotten to take the dark slide out during exposure! Well, the instructions with the Daylab Jr. ARE somewhat lacking!

Jeanne

-- Jeanne Apelseth (apelseth@robin.no), October 18, 1999.

similar problems. I have real good luck with 669 following Dupree's advice, however recently switched to 4x5 59 trying same techniques and results are dismal. Images are weak, major emulsion lift off. Any advice on using 59. thanks for any help. ddm

-- daniel d. miller (hamletren7tw3@hotmail.com), June 13, 2002.