Need help identifying procedure

[dcmoser]

Years ago my Grandfather had a picture of his tree farm above his fireplace. This picture seemed to be a transparency of sorts, yet from a distance appeared to be just an average picture. The picture was in a frame about an inch or two thick. When he turned on a switch on the frame, a light between the pic and the back of the frame backlit the entire picture making for a very bright illuminous picture. I would like to know what this procedure is called and where can a person begin looking to have something like this done and what it involves.
Thanks.

 

[Derrel]

That is called a Duratrans. It was a very popular process in the 1980's for restaurant menus which were backlighted. There used to be some very large ones displayed in Grand Central Station in New York City, as I understand it, they were among the worlds very-largest.

At one time, some of the huge ones wewre made on 35mm film and shot on Kodachrome slide material. The Duratrans material is still made by Kodak, as I understand it. The material is exposed underneath an enlarger. I am almost positive there is a type of inkjet type duratrans material available today.

Here's the scoop on what your grandfather had.

Duratrans.com - Duratrans photo-quality backlit display graphics

 

[craig]

Yes bring back the Duratrans! Just saw a great show where the artist printed Duratrans of the Desert and Europe. Let us know how you make out in your research.

Love & Bass