Here are three more digital prints on gold and silver leaf. Photographing these so they truly reproduce the way the prints look, is something I have not been able to pull off. These are fairly close, but I feel they still look much better and interesting in ‘real life.’
They are all on 13×20 inch watercolor paper, with the metal leaf adhered to a ground of acrylic paint.
The top one is from a Holga panorama, the bottom left one from a 35 mm black and white negative, and the gold leaf one from three merged digital layers.
2 responses so far ↓
Francesca Fuller // October 13, 2009 at 5:37 am
I’m just starting to print onto gold leaf boards, via gel transfers and I was wondering if you’ve ever done anything like that…you images above did you print those directly from your computer/printer, or did you transfer them? Also do you coat the metal leaf before printing? I tried doing that way first and it didn’t work, gold disappeared, I’m wondering if it tarnished……I love your images and work and hope to see them someday in real life! Keep up the great work. Cheers Francesca
christian harkness // October 13, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Hey Francesca, great to hear from you! To address your questions, no – none of them are transfers, and I have not tried transfers. Nitsa at :
http://nonphotography.com/blog/
blogs about that a lot, if you have not already visited her site, you will find it interesting.
In my images above, the leaf is covered with one or two coats of InkAid, and then printed directly with my Epson R2400.
I have also printed directly onto the leaf without coating it first. The images come out less distinct, but depending on the image, can look extremely good. Another way I have seen that is interesting, is to print on transparency and then back that with leaf.
I do spray the finished print with a Krylon fixative, otherwise they will smear.
Take care! – c