Polaroid Manipulation

Workshop

Urizen Freaza
www.urizen.es
urizen@urizen.es
+49-1786033668

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Instant Film – An overview

Types of Instant film currently available:

How does integral film works:

Source: The Impossible Project

2
How does packfilm works:

Source: Jim's Polaroids http://polaroids.theskeltons.org

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Emulsion lift with Impossible Project film
Impossible Project integral film is the only one allowing an emulsion lift, it won't work for Polaroid or Fuji Instax
integral film. Follow these steps:

1. Take the photo.

2. Wait until it's fully developed. This can take ~45 minutes for color film, ~15 minutes for b&w (Gen3.0
formula it is reported to take way less). The process can be accelerated by putting the polaroid in hot
water, but this affects the colors (usually shifting them to yellow).
3. Right after the image is developed, peel it apart. If you wait too long, the developer (the white
chemical, developer is probably not the correct term) will dry and it would be difficult to get it off the
emulsion, if not impossible. If it's already dried, you can get it off by heating the polaroid with a hair
drier, until the developer melts. But this does not always work. You can use latex gloves for this, but
the chemicals are not specially hazardeous.
4. The first decision is if you want to keep the frame or not. Depending on this, you can peel the polaroid
wildly, or you can use a cutter to cleanly cut the back so that it's not seen from the front.
5. Wash out the developer in water, running water if you can.
6. After this, you have two parts: the negative (which you can reclaim) and the emulsion stuck to the
transparent sheet of the front.
7. Sink the emulsion plus transparent sheet into cold water and let it rest there for several minutes. The
emulsion starts slowly to get loose.
8. Then carefully remove the emulsion borders from the transparent sheet until it floats in the water. To
do so you can use a brush, stroking the border stuck to the polaroid. Or you can use your fingers. The
emulsion is very fragile, however you do it, do it slowly.
9. Rests of chemicals and tiny pieces of emulsion can start floating in the water and later land on the
emulsion, so it's a good thing to change the water to keep the emulsion clean. To be extra clean, you
can put the emulsion once lifted into destilled water.
10. The lifted emulsion can be put now onto any object you choose: paper, a lamp, an egg, a tree... If
you choose something that absorbves water (like paper), the best way to transport it to its final
destination surface is using a thick transparent sheet or a glass sheet.
11. Put it mirror-inverted on the sheet while still floating in the water. Extend the emulsion on the sheet
and then transfer it to your chosen support surface.
12. Let it dry and... finished.
13. Once dried, you can wet it again and move it, but it is more likely to break then.

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Emulsion lift with Peel-Apart film (Fuji FP-100C)
This technique works for any color Peel-Apart film, Polaroid and Fuji FP-100C, and it's very similar to the
previous one. Follow these steps:

1. Take the photo.

2. Wait up to 2 minutes depending on the temperature of the room (see table at the film).
3. Peel it apart.
4. You have now a positive and a negative (that you can reclaim).
5. You can cut the white frame with scissors, this makes the emulsion lift easier. The white frame is
transparent emulsion.
6. Put the positive in hot (not boiling) water. Check that there are no bubbles appearing in the emulsion,
that would show that the water is too hot.
7. After some minutes, sink it in cold water. The temperature shock makes the emulsion shrink quickly
and gets it loose from the white cardboard.
8. In this case there are no chemicals coming out, so there is no need of latex gloves. Again, you can
use a brush or your fingers. Peel-apart emulsion is thicker and less flexible than the integral film
emulsion.
9. Then carefully remove the emulsion borders from the transparent sheet until it floats in the water.
10. The lifted emulsion can be put now onto any object you choose: paper, a lamp, an egg, a tree... If
you choose something that absorbves water (like paper), the best way to transport it to its final
destination surface is using a thick transparent sheet or a glass sheet.
11. Put it mirror-inverted on the sheet while still floating in the water. Extend the emulsion on the sheet
and then transfer it to your chosen support surface.
12. Let it dry and... finished.
13. Once dried, the peel-apart emulsion gets harder than integral film emulsion, it gets a sort of plastic
texture. After it dries is very dificult, if not impossible, to change it.

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Transparency with Impossible Project film
The process is identical to an emulsion lift until Step 4:

1. Take the photo.

2. Wait until it's fully developed. This can take ~45 minutes for color film, ~15 minutes for b&w (Gen3.0
formula it is reported to take way less). The process can be acclerated by putting the polaroid in hot
water, but this affects the colors (usually shifting them to yellow).
3. Right after the image is developed, peel it apart. If you wait too long, the developer (white chemical,
developer is probably not the correct term) will dry and it would be diffciult to get it off the emulsion, if
not impossible. If it's already dried, you can get it of by heating the polaroid first with a hair drier, until
the developer melts. You can use latex gloves for this, but the chemicals are not specially hazardeous
4. For the transparency, you want to keep the front intact. For this, cut along the sides and the upper
part of the polaroid using a cutter. Be careful not to transpass the black foil with the cutter, so that it's
not visible from the front side
5. Remove the black foil of the back carefully, leaving the frame as intact as possible.
6. Wash in water the developer off the emulsion in the front side, running water if possible.
7. After this, you have two parts: the negative (which you can reclaim) and the emulsion stuck to the
transparent sheet of the front with the frame intact: this is the transparency.
8. Now you can add a background: golden foil, a graphic pattern, … You can paint the emulsion, or insert
the transparency in an undeveloped polaroid (insertion) and push the chemicals with your fingers.

6
Negative reclaiming with Impossible Project film
Impossible Project integral film has a positiv and a negative. The negative can be reclaimed by sinking it in low
concentrated bleach. Repeat Steps 1 to 5 of the emulsion lift:

1. Expose the picture.

2. Wait until it's fully developed. This can take ~45 minutes for color film, ~15 minutes for b&w (Gen3.0
formula it is reported to take way less). The process can be acclerated by putting the polaroid in hot
water, but this affects the colors (usually shifting them to yellow).
3. Right after the image is developed, peel it apart. If you wait too long, the developer (white chemical,
developer is probably not the correct term) will dry and it would be diffciult to get it off the emulsion, if
not impossible. If it's already dried, you can get it of by heating the polaroid first with a hair drier, until
the developer melts. You can use latex gloves for this, but the chemicals are not specially hazardeous.
4. Wash out the developer in water, running water if you can.
5. After this, you have two parts: the front side with the emulsion stuck to the transparent sheet and the
negative.
6. Wash off the rests of developer off the negative. Use hot water and a soft brush.
7. Prepare a dilution of bleach in water with 1 part bleach, 30 parts water.
8. Sink the negative in the bleach for 30 seconds, take it out and clean again in hot water with the
brush. Make very slight strokes not to damage the negative.
9. Sink it again and repeat the process until it looks sharp, till the 'fog' is gone
10. Scan it and invert colors in PS. The reclaimed negative usually shows more detail and sharpness than
the original image. On the other hand it show cracks, shades and textures due to the reclaiming
process.

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Negative reclaiming with Peel-Apart film (Fuji FP-100C)
This technique works only Fuji FP-100C. Follow these steps:

1. Take the photo.

2. Wait at least 3 times the time recommended for the current room temperature (see table at the film).
The more time developing the more dense the negative will be.
3. Peel it apart.
4. You have now a positive and a negative, as usual.
5. Take the negative and peel off all the papers around it. Use gloves for this, as the chemicals are still
wet.
6. We are going to sink the negative in bleach to dissolve the black paint in the back of the negative and
make it transparent. It is very important that the bleach does not come in contact with the front side of
the negative, or the image will dissolve, too. The best way to get this is to get the negative front side
wet and stuck it to a glass sheet. Rub it against the glass with your fingers (using gloves) to avoid any
bubbles. Press along the borders to make sure no bleach reaches under the negative.
7. Sink the negative on the glass sheet in bleach. Almost inmediately the black paint will start coming off.
Use a brush to help the process.
8. Once all the black paint is gone, put the glass sheet into water and separate the negative from it
9. Clean the goo on the surface of the negative. We didn't do it before as it helps the negative stick to
the glass.
10. Once it is clean, sink the negative in destilled water to clean any rest of paint or residues on the
negative.
11. Let it dry.
12. The reclaimed negative is bigger than a medium format film negative. It shows a violet cast and is
more dense, what makes it hard to make a copy in an enlarger, but it's very good for a scan. It shows
more densitiy, more color range and sharpness than the positive.

8
Polaroid transfer with Peel-Apart film (Fuji FP-100C)
This technique was developed for Polaroid packfilm, but can be done with Fuji peel-apart too. The idea is
basically making the negative develop the image onto paper instead of the polaroid:

1. Take the photo overexposing 1 stop.

2. After pushing the polaroid through the rollers, use a clamp to fix together the polaroid (negative and
positive together) and the paper you are going to transfer it to (f.e. Aquarelle paper). The paper must
be acid free. Put the paper on the side of the postive.
3. After going through the rollers you can only leave the polaroid develop for 20 seconds exactly.
4. Go in darkness and when the 20 seconds are over, peel off the positive so that the negatives lays on
the paper. It doesn't have to be total darkness, but the negative is still photo sensitive, so it could get
solirized.
5. Still in darkness, press the negative against the paper with a roller. It is very important that once
pressed, the negative doesn't move on the paper, so while using the roller, put your other hand on the
clamp.
6. After passing the roller for about 30 seconds, rub the negative with your fingers, pressing it slighlty, so
that it comes inside the paper texture.
7. Wait 2 minutes and peel the negative off the paper.
8. The image will be darker than the original and tend to a deep green tone, that's why the overexposure
was necessary. If the negative did not move over the paper, it should be as sharp as the positive. The
transferred image has now the texture of the paper.