8x10" Photo print with Turmeric and Borax (Anthotype)

Continuing on experimenting using Turmeric-dyed paper as a photographic print method, this time using a transparency of a photo of an eagle I took two years ago near Minneapolis.
The process is simple and cheap, I plan to continue to tinker with the process and chemistry!

[@kevinmonceaux2101]

Why does KZbin keep trying to find more hobbies for me than I could possibly have time for? :-) I think I'm going to have to give this a try. I dabbled with black and white film/print development a few decades ago, and enjoyed the process. I love sepia toned prints, but never got around to trying that with photographic paper. I love browns in general. I usually keep sepia or similarly colored ink in my daily use fountain pen. I have Diamine Ancient Copper in it at the moment. I like that there are no harsh chemicals involved in this process. I already have everything I need in stock, except for some transparency film and/or a UV light. I think I might have an old florescent black light around somewhere.

[@paulbishop9896]

It's great for contact printing almost anything. Just remember unlike traditional photo printing, you use a positive rather than negative.. Crazy thing is, I found the process late one night while reading about Borax and precious metal refining, for no good reason. The only place I have found it documented was in a scholarly paper on sewage treatment using Tumeric/Curcumin and Borax.. and it was a sidebar mention in the paper, and showed a crude "photo" one of the researchers had made. From there, I just gave it a try. Alcohol tumeric extractions are used in chemistry as an indicator, so I knew that would work. Gave it whirl, and it worked wonderfully the very first time, and I've not been able to come up with a "better" process yet. It's pretty foolproof, nontoxic, measurements don't matter, and safe and fun even for kids. Leaf printing works great.

[@aeromodeller1]

The print should be washed after development to remove the excess yellow and improve contrast and remove excess borax.

[@paulbishop9896]

Yes, I find a rinse is needed or Borax may even crystallize out. Prints that I have sprayed with a bit of polyurathane and kept from direct sunlight are still quite gorgeous now.. over a year later.

[@2techshop]

Very nice video!

[@FernandoRuedaBucaramanga]

Thanks You!

[@paulbishop9896]

Glad you enjoyed. Going to be doing some more videos soon

[@_H_2023]

wow impressive.

[@LooseChangeImpact]

Hi, I was waiting for the end result and your video ended abruptly. Do you have a pic of the finished product? Thanks 🇨🇦

[@patschwab4083]

How do you make the 8 x 10 transparency and what did you print it on?

[@paulbishop9896]

Normal inkjet printer. You can buy transparency sheets specifically for use with inkjet printers at most office supply stores and whatnot. They have a "roughened" side designed to hold the ink; alternatively if you use a laser printer, they make transparency sheets for those also. If you can, bump up the contrast on the photo. It's certainly not an exact science, but for me part of the fun of it is the random factor.

[@patschwab4083]

@@paulbishop9896 Thanks, I enjoyed your video.

[@jansilar8737]

Did you mean tu(r)meric? Just to be sure, 'cause i want to try it :)

[@paulbishop9896]

Yes. That's the stuff. Check out the other vid where I make the paper, it's the common spice from the grocery store

[@bobbybond4349]

I live in the uk and can't get Borax is there anything you would recommend as an alternative?

[@paulbishop9896]

Hmm. Borax is a common laundry product, it should be available.. if not, a chemist friend of mine suggested that a diluted solution of Dishwasher detergent (the stuff you use in an automatic dishwasher) might have similar effect, though it's likely the color toning might be different.

[@suetaylor627]

It's readily available on Ebay in the UK. I'm about to order some.

[@drshawnie]

maybe experiment with baking soda as an alternative

[@paulbishop9896]

I'm curious if anyone has found a good alternative for the UK or elsewhere. I've not picked up any to try it yet, but a chemist friend of mine suggested that dishwasher machine powder *might* be worth a try, something about pH and sodium carbonate, but he also said that the color probably would not be the same, as the Boron in Borax is probably giving that particular shade. Apparently there's like PhD level chemistry involved in what's going on, lol.. even though the process is quite old. As an aside, he also mentioned that altering the pH of the Borax solution might also change the color and toning, and went into a whole discussion of cabbage colors all being the same except for the acidity in particular breeds changes the color of the "dye" in the plants, so they are Red cabbages and purple cabbages, and green and all the ornamental cabbages.. and it's actually the same "dye" in the plant, but the acidity of the plant's "blood" which makes a cabbage it's breed's color. That was kind of neat. The point being that many natural dyes can be altered by changing the acidity they are exposed to. He didn't know if Curcumin (the dye that comes from Tumeric) was pH responsive, but that's easy enough to try out for ourselves. He suggested I might try adding lemon juice or baking soda to the Borax solution and seeing if that changed the color and toning. Planning on doing it one of these days, to give it a try.

[@paulbishop9896]

I was also informed that Curcumin (the dye from Tumeric that we are using) is commonly used in laboratory chemistry as an indicator, especially in certain forms of chromatography. It's ability to glow under UV light is used to isolate certain chemicals they study. As I understand, it tends to bind to certain types of chemicals, making them visible by lighting up under a lab UV light. The paper that led me to the process was actually about the borax/curcumin reaction as it is used to purify water, and the authors had made a footnote discussion about they had used the curcumin and borax reaction to make contact prints while they waited to see if their sewerage treatment reaction worked. A bit of Google later and decided to see if it would work... and decided on my process completely adhoc, not really expecting the outcome to be so fantastic.

[@victoriastewart-meyers]

The transparency is a positive or negative?

[@paulbishop9896]

Positive. Since this is a uv bleaching process, a positive is used.

[@rohitjain6616]

Can I use this paper in a pinhole camera ? Please reply.

[@paulbishop9896]

I would think so, but the exposure time might be REALLY long, maybe too long to be practical. If you give it a try, I'd be interested to know how it goes!

[@rohitjain6616]

@@paulbishop9896 I have made my pinhole camera. But I don't have alcohol so I am using spirit and turmeric.

[@rohitjain6616]

@@paulbishop9896 so I have placed a normal paper coated with turmeric and sanitizer in a tin can. The pin hole is made from sewing needle. And I have placed another paper beside camera and a worden cube on it(just like u did with eagle photo) and I also placed third paper in a black file so I can compare 3 papers . But today is not a very sunny day. It's been bit cloudy since sena year. But due to excitement I tried it today. I don't know what the camera will capture but the camera is facing some houses near and a cellphone tower which is very far. The cylindrical tin can camera is 4 inch long and circumference is 2 inch.

[@rohitjain6616]

@@paulbishop9896 I am taking the observation in the interval of 1 hour. Matching the fadeness.

[@rohitjain6616]

@@paulbishop9896 well, it didn't worked out. The whole paper became orange except some lines.

[@reeractivist7561]

Anyone ever watch paint dry? Thanks Paul

[@paulbishop9896]

Erm, anyone ever watch indian food go stale? I would expect Tumeric flavored rice respond the same way and work as a "print" surface.. lol