I am not going deep into silver gelatin emulsion chemistry and theory just to collect old formulas or satisfy technical curiosity.
I am going deep because my vision demands it.
The body of work I want to make is not built around modern sharpness, technical perfection, or speed. I am drawn instead to photographs that feel atmospheric, handmade, and deeply personal. I want them to carry softness, presence, and mystery. I want them to stand one step away from sharp reality so they can feel more interpretive, more emotional, and more alive. What matters to me is not perfect description, but resonance.
That is why the chemistry matters so much.
I do not want a workflow where the most important material decisions have already been made for me. I want to control and influence every step I can. For this body of work, it must be fully analog and fully hands-on. I am not searching for a faster method or a more efficient solution. I am searching for a process that feels honest.
My subject matter is part of this same vision. I have always been drawn to flowers and to lone trees, especially winter trees. For me, they are not just things to photograph. They are metaphorical forms that speak about beauty, fragility, endurance, loss, renewal, and the passing of time. At this stage of my life, I want to stay close to home, close to the darkroom, and work slowly with the quiet forms of the Ozarks.
The tools and materials follow directly from that vision. Whole plate is the right format for my eye. Soft-focus vintage large format lenses are the right optics. Handmade silver gelatin paper negatives are the path I want to pursue, and I want to pair them with handmade potassium chloride gaslight printing paper so I can shape the final print from warm and creamy to quiet neutral through paper and chemistry. In other words, this series is not just about chemistry. It is about building a complete photographic language from the ground up.
That is the spirit behind these articles.
I am studying emulsion chemistry and emulsion theory because I want to understand the material deeply enough to shape it toward my own artistic ends. I do not want to merely follow recipes. I want to understand why an emulsion behaves the way it does, what each variable changes, and how the negative and print can be designed together to support the kind of image I am trying to make.
If you are learning to coat your own paper negatives or silver chloride printing papers, one of the smartest things you can do is practice before you ever touch real emulsion.
Real silver gelatin emulsion takes time, money, and care to make. That means simple coating mistakes can get expensive fast. Uneven coverage, missed corners, thin spots, heavy edges, or using the wrong puddle size can waste both paper and emulsion before you ever get to the fun part.
That is why I like to practice first with a faux emulsion.
It is simple, cheap, easy to make, and it helps you learn one of the most important parts of hand coating: control.
What a faux emulsion helps you learn
A faux emulsion is not meant to replace the real thing. It is a practice tool.
Its purpose is to help you learn:
- how much liquid you need for a given paper
- how large your starting puddle should be
- how the coating spreads as you push it
- how to get even coverage across your target area
That matters because most early coating problems are not chemistry problems. They are handling problems.
If your puddle starts too small, you may end up with thin spots or dry areas. If it starts too large, you may flood the paper or leave heavy edges. If your movement is uneven, the coating will show it.
A faux emulsion lets you work through those issues without risking real silver gelatin.
A simple faux emulsion formula
For practice, I use a starch-based mix because it behaves much closer to emulsion than plain gelatin does.
Use either:
- 2 teaspoons (5.3 g) tapioca starch or 1½ teaspoons (4 g) cornstarch
Then add:
- 1 liter of water
- 5 or 6 drops of red food coloring
Start by making a slurry with the starch in a small amount of water. Then whisk in the rest of the water.
Bring it to a gentle boil while whisking constantly. When the cloudiness turns clear, remove it from the heat and stir in the food coloring.
Then refrigerate it for several hours and practice with it cold.
That cold handling is what makes it useful. At that point, it moves much more like a real coating liquid.
The coating tool I use
I coat with a glass coating rod, often called a puddle pusher.
I use a 9-inch wide puddle pusher for my whole plate (6.5 x 8.5) and 8 x 10 paper negatives, as well as silver chloride printing papers.
I plug the ends of the glass coating tube with putty, and to get the right working height for most papers, I wrap the ends about 8 to 9 times with thin vinyl tape.
That simple setup has worked well for me, especially when I want a consistent coating height across a range of papers.
If you want the same tools and supplies I use, you can find them here:
The biggest lesson: puddle size matters
This is the main thing I want people to understand.
The puddle spreads as you push it.
That means success is not just about pouring out “enough” coating. It is about starting with the right volume and the right puddle shape so it opens up and covers the target area evenly as you move the rod.
That is the skill.
When I practice with faux emulsion, I am mostly trying to answer a few simple questions:
How much liquid does this paper need?
How large should the starting puddle be?
How does the puddle behave once I begin the pass?
Can I cover the negative area evenly without starving one side or overloading the other?
That is exactly the kind of practice that saves real money and real frustration later.
Final thought
There is no downside to practicing first.
A faux emulsion gives you a low-risk way to improve your coating technique, learn your paper, and build confidence with your puddle pusher before silver ever touches the sheet.
It is a simple step, but it can save a lot of wasted emulsion and a lot of avoidable mistakes.
If this kind of hands-on analog guidance is useful to you, Darkroom Diary Premium goes much deeper. Members get more of the real working details behind my process, including formulas, methods, testing notes, practical lessons, and the kind of information that helps you make fewer mistakes and get better results faster.
