Polaroid Transfer Art

1. Process the exposed Polaroid film and let it dry for 8 to 24 hours or force-dry with a hair dryer.

2. Heat a tray of water to 160 F and fill another tray with cold tap water. Place a sheet of acetate or Mylar on the bottom of the cold water tray. If you are transferring onto watercolor paper, moisten the paper under a room-temperature tap water for several seconds. Place your on a waterproof counter top and remove the excess water with squeegee.

3. Immerse the print face up in the tray of 160 F water for 4 minutes. Agitate the tray to keep the print under the surface of the water. It is not necessary to keep the water heated during this time. Remove the print from the hot water using tongs and place it in the tray of cold water.

4. Lightly push the emulsion from the edges of the print slightly towards the center. Lift the emulsion and slowly peel it away from the paper substrate, keeping the part of the emulsion that is releasing form the substrate under the water. Bring the emulsion back and over itself (somewhat like turning down a bed sheet), thus reversing the image. Leave the emulsion floating in the water. Discard the paper substrate.

5. Grab two corners of the emulsion and clamp it with you fingers to the acetate on the bottom of the tray. Holding the emulsion, lift the acetate in and out of the water several times to stretch the image and remove the wrinkles. Repeat this on all four corners, always holding the top two corners. When stretched, you can dunk the image to purposefully let the water curl and then fold it. When you are satisfied with the image, remove it from the water and place it onto your transfer surface. Make sure that acetate is on top.

6. Carefully remove the acetate. Use your finger to push and stretch the image to manipulate it. At his time, you can dunk the emulsion/paper in and out of the cold water to further manipulate the image. When finished, roll the image with a soft rubber brayer from the middle outward. Start with just the weight of the roller, increasing the pressure only after all the excess of water and air bubbles have been removed. You are done when all the folds look pressed down. Hang dry when finished.

7. Flatten the image in a warm dry mount press. If desired, spray with a protective coating. FInish with pastels, watercolor paints, dyes, and pencils if desired. Protect from UV exposure for stability.

I received the brochure directly from Polaroid on August 15, 1996. It provides a good information on several processes and techniques: image transfers, emulsion transfers, SX-70 manipulation, 35 mm instant films, Polaroid films and accessories. I am lucky that I have a desk with a glass counter. It works perfectly for image and emulsion transfers and other alternative photography processes. The Polaroid film goo is quite aggressive. I would recommend to use latex gloves for working with emulsion transfers if you can. However, it may be difficult to manipulate a delicate emulsion tissue with gloves. I have never been successful in doing this ... I don't have a mounting press, so I used to skip the step 7. After drying, I simply put the emulsion and image transfers between sheets of bloat paper and under a stack of books.

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