Finished 'Zink' emulsion lifts

Well, my test lifts were with the image of the peacock. I have the finished lifts dry now, here they are:

They worked very well. My next task was to devide an image into 9 pieces so I could print 9 parts, lift the emulsion then put them back together on a sheet of watercolour paper. This is for some uni work I'm doing on face transplants and cosmetic surgery. The image I started with was sized correctly to be devided up into nine 2x3 inch rectangles, this being the size of a zink print. (if you send it an image that is not 2x3, it will be cropped somewhere, and you may lose something from your image so best keep them that size). Here is the image I started with:

I had not used the printer for a while and as is normally the  case, the image was printed wrong. The 'print head' had to be cleaned. Insted of wasting these 'streaky' images, I decided to use them anyway as it's just a test of the technique. Here are the zink prints:

As you can see they are very badly streaked. I used them and here's the result:

There are a couple of bits of the yellow layer attached to some of these, that's what I get for not taking it all out! I'll make sure I clean the equipment before doing the blue layer. Here it is:

This one turned out rather well considering. They both have the look of a polaroid emulsion lift even though it's not photographic emulsion. Apologies to Martin for not doing him any favours in the finished images.



Competition Success

Well, the results are in for Februarys SWPP competition. I got 2 bronzes. I must say, the judging was very harsh this month, not many awards given out and some questions being asked about the process, not by me but I do think it was harsh. Anyway, these are the images;

This one got a bronze in the Open category. I put it there as the wildlife category is for wild animals only and I don't think peacocks are wild in the UK, not sure mind but I did take it on a farm so there you go.

Link to the posting: click here

This one got a bronze in the Contemporary Portraiture category



Link to the posting: click here

Polaroid Zink media

Well, it seems I'm wrong about the yellowish layer being the top protective layer on a zink sheet (see 2 earlier posts). It is in fact a yellow dye layer (should have known really, yellow, magenta, cyan), but it is under a protective layer. This must be very thin indeed as I have not managed to get it off in one piece yet - will try again though. If I do manage to get one off intact, I can't imagine it showing up very well when transfered onto white paper, we'll see.

Second attempt at ‘Polaroid Emulsion lift’ with polaroid ‘Zink’ media.

Second attempt at ‘Polaroid Emulsion lift’ with polaroid ‘Zink’ media.


This time I used this image:

I’m using a plastic dish with about 1 cm of water in. The water was at about 35 degrees when I put the image in. I also put a square of 350 gram watercolour paper in to get really wet. This is going to be the backing for the lifted emulsion. This is how it looks after 15 minutes.

After about 30 minutes in the water, the image looks opaque. It’s the top layer which nearly peels off by itself. It’s very, very thin and has no image on it – I think it’s the protective outer layer. As soon as you touch it, it comes off the image and sticks to itself.

If you attempt to take it out of the water it just clings to itself and it won’t unravel. You don’t need it anyway, so can discard it. I left it in the water but next time will remove it as soon as it’s off.

The next layer is the main image layer – it will be red when it comes off. This layer will be lifted off and transferred to the watercolour paper. From one side you can push it across the image with your finger – don’t use your nail as it will tear.

Do it in small parts, up and down the image until you get it off all the way across. Once it’s free of the image, it will float about in the water.

When you try to pick it up it seems ok but as soon as it comes out of the water it rolls together and is very difficult to unravel. When you try to push it around the edges seem to stick to the paper and then the rest of it sort of rolls over the edges and becomes very difficult to move.

I decided to put it back in the water and try again.

If you get it near to the paper and then on it (in the water) then hold 2 corners with both hands and lift them out of the water. Tip it up as you do it so the water is running away from your fingers and the image will not roll up as much. Put them down flat in another dish and sprinkle a few drops of water on top.

I am using 2 stiff bristled artists paint brushes to move it about. The best way seems to be to try and get an edge of the layer over to where you want it then work on spreading the rest out evenly. The edges still want to go under the layer, so keep sprinkling water on it. Once in position, carefully tilt it up so that the water runs off and stand it up to dry.

Seperating the previous (red) layer and the blue one is a sheet of plastic that you don’t need. It should peel off in one go.

Now I’m left with the blue layer and attempt to get it off. It would not come off but small bits of it did. I cut 2 corners off so I could try and start the peel but it would not come off. Using my fingernail I scrape the corner to try and get it started but it won’t move.

I decide to leave it for another half hour. Going back it comes off quite easily, but seems even thinner than the red layer. It peels off quite easily.

If you attempt to pull it out of the water it sticks together worse than the red layer so use your paper to place it on before lifting out of the water, using the same technique as before. (If you get it right to the edge before pulling completely off, you have to flip it on to the paper or it will be the wrong way round). This image should explain it.

Once out of the water and onto the plate it seemed easier than the red layer to move around.

That’s it. Stand it up to dry. Here’s both, standing next to each other, the red one is nearly dry.

Actually, they are better off drying flat as they will bow.

Polaroid Zink 'emulsion' lift.

First attempt at ‘Polaroid Emulsion lift’ with polaroid ‘Zink’ media.


Polaroid brought out a little digital printer that prints onto special paper called ‘Zink – (zero ink)’. You send a digital file to the printer via Bluetooth, and it prints out a 3 x 2 inch photo with an adhesive back. The paper itself is made of layers and under each layer are ink type crystals. When it prints it heats up parts of the image as it rolls out of the printer and activates the crystals giving you a print.

I had heard that Polaroid Zink media can be manipulated like some Polaroid film can. You can do the equivalent of an ‘emulsion lift’. This is something I’ll have to try.

My first attempt didn’t go well. I put a print into hot water and it didn’t last long!

What we have here is the top layer (yellow streak), image layer (red) and the backing sheet with a bit of the blue layer left on it. At the back of the backing sheet is a layer you can peel off to reveal an adhesive side. The water was way too hot.

Try again. This time the water was about 50 degrees. The image stayed together but was very soft. Here’s what’s happening.

The top layer (yellow) is falling apart. The next layer (red) is very soft and the bright blue marks are from my fingernail going through the red layer and scraping some of the blue layer off. I think the water is still too hot.

Try again. This is the image I started with.

This time the water was at room temperature. I left it in for 30 minutes. This is what I got.

The yellow ‘splat’ is the top layer and I can’t seem to do anything with it. The red image layer stayed intact and spread out fairly well. The remaining photo has the blue layer still on.

I’m going to try and get it off and put it on top of the red layer. It comes off pretty well.

Although it came off easily, putting it on top of the red layer proved very difficult and I could not get it spread back out once I had it on. This is the best I could manage.

The red and blue layers both had distinct images on them and putting them back together did improve the quality of the seperate layers. I’m not sure it’s something I can find a use for though.