Troubleshoot Polaroid Transfer...

[skyrise]

I am using a Vivitar slide printer for Polaroid transfers and am getting a brownish film over the transfer. I can blot it away but the more successful I am with removing it the more I just dull the color, too. Carr's book suggests bad film but this has happened with more than one film pack - straight from the store or straight from the fridge & no where near expiration...any suggestions?!

 

[terri]

Hi Skyrise, and welcome to TPF!

Any way you can post an example? That residue should be along the edges of your transfer, not all across your image.

Without seeing an example, I can only suggest that you might be pressing too hard with your brayer. Too much pressure can cause the dyes to run into each other, resulting in a bit of a colorless mess. If you have good fresh film, clean rollers, you must start examining technique, and it's very easy to apply too much pressure.

Heat, your local water, and paper choice can come into play, too. Are you using distilled water?

 

[skyrise]

I'm not using distilled water, should I be?... will do some brayer pressure experiments and see what happens. Thanks for the input Terri!

 

[terri]

Using distilled water at least eliminates the chance of poor pH balance or other impurities having an adverse affect on the dyes. When you get an "off" result, you must start with a process of elimination. So definitely start with switching to distilled water, as it's cheap and easy to get. Your tests with varying brayer pressure could also give you a different result.

Hope you post your results! Good luck.