Printing on Duratrans

[johnmsanderson]

Hello,

I have been thinking of printing some of my images on Duratrans material and backlighting them. I think certain images, especially darker nightscapes would work well presented in this manner.

Can anyone share some experiences with the material?

Thanks
Johnny

[bob carnie]

I started printing on Duratrans in 1980, The material is basically a RA4 emulsion on a translucent material which requires a proper lightbox rated for daylight.
When everything falls in place they are quite striking and beautiful.

Problem is you need a good box to show the work, The material is expensive and after prolonged lighting will fade , depending upon length of illumination quite rapidly.

But for display work, or one of a kind exhibits where permanence is not required , it is a wonderful material.

I am considering using the fuji clear,, to make digital negs which is another whole application of this material.

[Robert Ley]

The problem with Duratrans is that it can't be bought in small quantities. I have been printing duratrans for many years and it does work great. It must be developed for twice the time due to the thickness of the emulsion which is not a problem if you can adjust the speed of your processor. Kodak stopped providing Duratrans in boxes and you can only buy it in a roll, Checking B&H a roll of Duratrans 32"x166' is over $950 shipped. So experimenting with duratrans is pretty much out of the question for most people. Last year I bought a roll which should last me for several years.
You can still find some old stock, but it is getting rarer. Good luck in your search.

[Dan Henderson]

I saw a magnificent display of transparent, backlit pictures at the Art Institute of Chicago several years ago by Tokohiro Sato. It has been awhile since I have thought about this work so I can't remember what medium the images were printed on, but they were breathtaking.

[Drew Bedo]

Would the dura-trans as negative filter some wavelentghs? Multi-contrast paper and UV sensative contact printing materials mighgt not respond as expected. Does anyone have any information on this?

[bob carnie]

Jeff Wall prints on ciba clear trans which is another animal, it is permanent in dark storage and if enough editions are printed when he sells an image, and the gallery is diligent his work could be considered a permanent installation.

[johnmsanderson]

Thank you for the replies.

Cibatrans sounds tempting for the archival aspect. I am researching whether these can be printed from a lab that does Ilfochrome (I assume the processes are related?) from Digital files through a Lightjet, such as Hance Partners.

I am also interested in how the print is mounted to an illuminated display. Is it a very involved process?

[bob carnie]

Yes Hance Partners would be able to do this, the print price will be very expensive, buyer be warned.
The 50inch roll price is very pricey.

Sometimes the material is face mounted to the plexi or back mounted depending on application.
I do not know if Mr Wall mounts his material or not, probably not , after showing most likely rolled back into safe tube and stored till next viewing.

Thank you for the replies.

Cibatrans sounds tempting for the archival aspect. I am researching whether these can be printed from a lab that does Ilfochrome (I assume the processes are related?) from Digital files through a Lightjet, such as Hance Partners.

I am also interested in how the print is mounted to an illuminated display. Is it a very involved process?

[bob carnie]

Drew.
I am going to put fuji clear through my machine to test it , right now I am not as motivated as I currently make alt negs on ortho film using my lambda, but I know that some labs in New York are using fuji/dura clear for making positives for gravure printing.
A fellow on one of the forums states that the fuji clear will not work in the UV exposing units, I can't argue this point until I try it myself,, one beautiful aspect of using a fuji clear material would be the ability to colourize the negative for contrast control to the print process you are using.. lots of testing so little time.
There are two materials,, dura trans,, and dura clear,,, I am only thinking of using the clear material which avoids the translucent backing.

Bob

Would the dura-trans as negative filter some wavelentghs? Multi-contrast paper and UV sensative contact printing materials mighgt not respond as expected. Does anyone have any information on this?

[Jim Michael]

My wife printed a show a couple of years ago for an artist here in Atlanta. The images were from an Antarctica series and the show was held in a parking garage one night in winter. The images were all large backlit images of Antarctic ice formations. I'm pretty sure they were face mounted to plex. The artist had some pretty cool frames for backlighting the images, not sure if they were LED or flos. One of the local papers called it the best art show that year. I think it was printed on a translucent material from Fuji that they print in their Lambda printer, similar to Duratrans.