I just started doing emulsion lifts. In the last two days I've had some excellent results, but also some that fail completely due to the failure of the gel to separate from the emulsion. I place the print into the hot water bath and it doesn't peel away. Instead, after about 5 minutes, the gel bubbles up underneath the emulsion, making it impossible to pull apart. I don't know what I'm doing differently to cause this. Any suggestions? Could my water be too hot? The prints are dry [over 24 hours and held under the hairdryer!] and I am cutting off the edges. Any help would be appreciated.

-- Caroline Whalen (cawhalen@email.unc.edu), August 12, 2004

Answers

Oops... just realized that if I don't come back to the board to answer, only the original poster gets the response. Here it was:

I had the same problem when I was first beginning and I did two things. I'm not sure which was the solution, but doing both solved the problem. I waited much longer than 24 hours (in fact, I waited six months in some cases and had excellent lifts) and I used a candy thermometer to make sure the water was exactly at 160 degrees F.

Maybe others have others suggestions. Good luck :o)

Linda

-- Linda (cardella@videotron.ca), August 13, 2004.