[Frameworks] Optical Printer in Berlin/Contact Printer Building instuctions

Thu Jun 16 21:07:54 CDT 2011

Roger, that's Brilliant!

a small slit!  of course!  sometimes its the most obvious things that  
are most elusive.... god knows why, but my holes were always the size  
of a frame... as if it was a camera gate... and now that you mention a  
small slit, i see that my approach was preposterous!  (i mean it  
worked... but i had lots of ND).

thank you for that beautiful eureka moment!  I LOVE IT!

also for contact printing, my favourite methods are non-steenbeck for  
shorter lengths of film.  7-8 feet at a time for making loops.  I use  
a maglight with ND filters on it... and sometimes and cone, but not  
usually.

For those approaches, I lay out the unexposed film, emulsion up on a 7  
foot long table (at Faucet media art centre in Sackville, I had a  
table with two strips of duct tape 16mm apart so I could feel where to  
put the film in the dark)... then I would lay what I was copying on  
top of it, face down... I would use paperclips to sync up the sprocket  
holes every here and there, and pieces of broken glass where i wanted  
it crisp... i would weave the film back and forth side to side if i  
wanted to see sprocket holes, and make little hills and bumps if i  
wanted it to blur in and out of focus....

as for exposure... that was the fun part... :)

i had a little wheely-chair... and i would hold the mag light at arms  
length over my head, pointed straight down, and i would kick off from  
one side, and wheel along the side of the table from one end to the  
other... the exposure time was the length it took me to "weeeeeee!"  
roll from one end of the table to the other  (making the "weeeeeee!"  
sound with glee is a technically necessary part of the procedure)....  
then i would take the unexposed film.... and process it in coffee  
pots....

only 7-8 feet at a time, so I had 3 coffee pots from the salvation  
army... dev, water-vinegar, fix..... i would raise the seat on the  
wheely chair, and use my gloved hand to swish the film around and my  
non-gloved hand to hold my beer bottle (yes i know... drinking in the  
darkroom is so not safe!!! i don't do it anymore).... it was so  
nice... at struts / faucet they had a lot of live bands (2-3 per week  
at times) and they would play just on the other side of the wall, so i  
would be doing this after work hours listening to live music instead  
of a CD.... very very special memories!

now the printing facilities are upstairs in the fX (faucet eXpanded  
facility that I set up last summer before leaving... the old one i  
just described (with the wheely-chair and live bands) was actually  
also the computer lab... so it was too crowded for steenbeck and  
chemistry and 3 computers in a room the size of a closet.

phew!  i'm signing off now... writing on a train in northern New  
Brunswick... 6 hours down and another 11 hours to go...  and there is  
thunder and lightening outside!  (not film related, but inspiring  
nonetheless)

be well,

Amanda Dawn Christie
--------------------------------
506-871-2062
www.amandadawnchristie.ca
amanda at amandadawnchristie.ca
_______________________________

On 16-Jun-11, at 9:26 AM, Beebe,Roger W wrote:

> Oh, hey, just my own small addition to the contact printer building  
> instructions.  I built two contact printers this spring, one using  
> an old, half-working flatbed, and I found that by cutting a narrow  
> slit in a piece of cardboard, I was able to cut the light  
> significantly without lots of ND filters.  I still had to run the  
> flatbed full speed, and the only other catch was that if I kept it  
> on too long, the cardboard would start to burn, so watch out!
>
> (For what it's worth, I had more luck with a small head lamp, a  
> toilet paper tube, a set of rewinds, and a sync block.  The light  
> was a lot easier to control, and even with the unevenness in speed  
> from hand cranking, the results were generally pretty good.)
>
> The joys of DIY contact printing...
> Roger
>
>
> On Jun 15, 2011, at 3:06 PM, Amanda Christie wrote:
>
>> I've used steenbeck's as contact printers several times, and it's
>> pretty easy.  It's hard to describe without diagrams and lots and  
>> lots
>> of words (and I'm late for work this morning).... but basically....
>> let's see if i can be concise:
>>
>> 1.  make the steenbeck lighttight - first make your room light tight,
>> turn off the room lights and turn on the steenbeck light... find all
>> the light leaks and cover them up (i use black plastic film bags and
>> tape... as well as bits of black paper here an there. you will need a
>> rectangular peice of black cardboard to cover the screen... to  
>> prevent
>> light leaks around the edges i used flaps of black velvet... make it
>> easy to remove so that you can still use the steenbeck for other
>> purposes.
>>
>> 2.  make a cover flap for the light / prism / transport section  
>> (can't
>> remember what it's actually called before having my morning coffee) -
>> this requires three parts made of black cardstock.... two long
>> rectangles with a bend that you tape on just one side to the flippy
>> locks (i continue to invent technical terms before my coffee)... so
>> when you close the flippy-locks on the film, you can tuck the paper  
>> in
>> to prevent light leaks.  the third piece of paper goes over the top.
>> all three of these pieces need to be able to flip out and open so  
>> that
>> you can load film through the mechanisms in the dark, but then close
>> it up and flip them down to prevent light leaks.  this might take  
>> some
>> practice and a few tries to get just the right shapes that both block
>> light, and are easily movable.
>>
>> 3.  make a filter holder - using more black paper, make a rectangle
>> with a hole cut out of it to tape in filters... this is a removable
>> piece that goes over the light and can fit in there and be taped
>> on ... then you would close the paper flaps over it.
>>
>> 3.  raw film covers - take two piza boxes the size of the plates and
>> cut a slit for the film to pass through and line that slit with black
>> velvet so the film doesn't get scratched and also to absorb more
>> potential light leaks.
>>
>> 4.  operation - use the top two plates (usually used for picture) for
>> your raw stock.   in the dark put the unexposed stock (feed) on the
>> top left plate, then cover it with the pizza box, having the film  
>> pass
>> through the appropriately placed slit.  then thread it through to the
>> top right plate (take-up) and cover it with the pizza box.  load
>> whatever you are copying onto the next two plates, and thread it
>> through.... you are now using 4 plates.... sandwhich the film  
>> together
>> and make sure that both pieces of film have their sprockets being
>> grabbed by the film transport so that they don't slip out of  
>> alignment.
>>
>> 5.  don't forget! - emulsion to emulsion.
>>
>> 6.  turn on the light and speed it through - use the filters to
>> control exposure.  i've printed on colour print stocks as well as BW
>> 3378 and i find that you really need to speed the steenbeck super  
>> fast
>> and use a helluva lot of ND filters to cut down on the light.  you
>> could use a weaker light bulb, but not if you want to still use it  
>> for
>> regular editing purposes too.
>>
>>
>> and that's it.
>>
>> for more information you could contact Esther at the
>> WORM.filmwerkplaats in Rotterdam... they have one.
>>
>> the one that I modified is at Faucet Media Arts Centre in  
>> Sackville...
>> but I am no longer there, however I think that Elli is on this  
>> list...
>> Elli works there now and could maybe take a picture of that steenbeck
>> and post it somewhere.... (whadya say E.  ? )... if not, I will be
>> down in Sackville sometime in the coming weeks and could take a
>> picture of it as well.
>>
>> hope that helps.
>>
>> amanda
>> (oh wow, now i'm really late for work and still haven't had  
>> coffee.  :)
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> FrameWorks mailing list
>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>
> _______________________________________________
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks