We first started discussing the possibility of running a Liquid Emulsion workshop with Naroa Perez at the beginning of 2020 and scheduled the first session for early Spring that year. COVID-19 put paid to that and further attempts to reschedule though out last year. Thankfully, we were finally able to deliver a couple of weeks ago and it was definitely worth the wait.
Naroa began by providing an overview of the journey that led to her exploring the possibilities of self-coating. She explained that very quickly she decided that the materials she was applying the emulsion to were as important as the imagery she produced on it. Experimenting with a wide range of papers, including hand-made Japanese and Indian; cork and wood, led to the production of a limited edition book: The Trail of Touch. The workshop participants were encouraged to touch as well as look at the copy Naroa brought along.
After a brief overview of the practicalities of the coating process, the group were taken into the darkroom for a demonstration of how to apply liquid emulsion to a selection of papers, organdy cotton and even some plaster roundels. Working in pairs, the darkroom quickly became a hive of frenzied activity, with one person coating, while their partners wielded hair-dryers to speed up the drying process.
Following a quick lunch break, the photographers got to work testing their materials and working out which negatives produced the best results. Under Naroa’s attentive guidance everyone succeeded in creating some exquisite artefacts, a selection of which can be seen below.
If you are interested in coming along to our next session, click on the link at the bottom of this page
