Hoooo-boy.
So the construction of this book has been put off until yesterday as I have been having a difficult time deciding on what it should even look like. I have been sketching ideas on notebook paper and nothing has really felt right. In the past few days I have been researching tintypes. I love the look of tin type. There is an element that feels as though you can touch the subject in a good tintype. Almost a 3d effect. I had wanted to try to simulate miniature portraits photographically, but that didn’t feel right either. I looked into tintype process and it is expensive and requires a lot of practice, not to mention how dangerous the chemicals. So then I looked into making faux tintypes. Most of the digital examples of faux tintype effects I viewed seemed cheesy. Then I stumbled across a blog that mentioned printing onto transparencies and adhering them to foil, foil tape or mylar.
Here is a link to the basic instructions. I found that spray adhesive works much better than Mod Podge or Elmers, however, the white adhesives make a lot of artifacts that can be pretty cool but requires long drying time.
http://www.ehow.com/how_10066671_make-faux-tintype.html
After doing tests with different glues I did some more tests after I found I liked the spray adhesive. I used glass with the back painted gold and silver. The glass made the images very 3d and way too blurry.
I used the dull side of foil. One sheet painted gold and one unpainted. I printed images in color and in black and white onto a transparency and glued them to the foils. I rolled them with a rolling pin and let them dry.
I recently found these fantastic toaster oven guts (the pans) at Goodwill. They are aluminum and scratched and dulled. Inspired by tintypes I bought them thinking they would be great for faux tintypes. I plan to use them and I am holding off on a test mount until I can find some more lovely aluminum toaster oven pans. Foil is the back up plan if the result is not as lovely as the foil. In person the foil mount tests are warm and rich, and the color prints are gem toned. I love them.
Once again I am having problems uploading photos. I am creating a tumbr so I can link y’all to photos but I cannot get my email verified with them. I am not getting the verification email. Technical problems here…