never show one's failures

I am sure that there is some rule out there that for purposes of professionalism, one does not show one's failures. 

Below is one such failure. I had decided to employ stretch wrap as a water barrier in addition to the 3 panels of clear acrylic. Never again with the stretch wrap. Photo courtesy of Christina Zuercher.

Below is attempt number two. This time with a different pajama set and with red rose emulsion. I still am struggling with composition with the men's pajamas. They are so ...static. 

I really shouldn't be showing this...

Caveat #1: The only Plexiglass big enough for my Anthotype experiment on the cheap was the sheet of acrylic on which I coat the Forces of Nature prints. I thought I cleaned it prior to re-purposing it but the light of day reveals all of the flaws in my plan.

Caveat #2: This became a test or more accurately a run through. What would I be able to make a photograph with from materials lying around? With the exception of the Fabriano Artistico Hot Press roll of paper Bridgette and I went in on together, everything else was at hand: spring clamps from Big Lots, the aforementioned Plexiglass, the pajama top and the pokeberry juice diluted down a bit with water.

Caveat #3: It's about process. The unfading marks (squares) and rainwater drips (from the day we were in Columbus installing the Naturalists) may very well become part of the piece. Seen above, the spots where the spring clamps were at are a good indication of what kind of change has happened.

I estimate that the Anthotype has gotten about 4 1/2 afternoons of exposure. I will leave it out tomorrow for a final bit of sunlight and tomorrow night for better or for worse I will unveil the Anthotype to Bridgette and think about what I need to do next time so that it won't be a run through.

If it looks fabulous I will blog it on Sunday. If it is a mess, I will still post it Sunday. After all, as an artist I acknowledge the possibility of failure.

I can't stand the rain!

The title of today's blog is from a song lyric stuck in my head. Was it Ann Peebles that sang the most famous version of this song? Sure it dates me but it does speak volumes regarding the fugitive nature of this technique namely don't let the anthotype get wet.

Next Fall I hopefully will have an ample supply of pokeberry juice. At the moment I have two letter sized sheets coated as well as a larger piece in which is covered in diluted pokeberry juice. It is a light pink will probably create a low contrast, barely visible image unless I hit it with beet juice (somewhere in there is a double entendre). My hope is to give this some additional exposure, live with the drips and missing pokeberrry pigment (it will be visible, when done, below the collar).  There will be some noticeable mis-registration which will add to the ghosting effect.