The Goodbye Polaroid Party
In 1999 (good god, ten years ago) I printed a book called 17 Reasons, which features seven polaroid transfers. The book was made in an edition of 35, which means that I made about three hundred transfers, give or take, including proofs and tests and stuff-ups. Thirty-odd boxes of 669 film later, I remember thinking I’d made one significant technical discovery, which involves the use of a hot water bottle. I’ve not printed any since. In my early panic at the news that Polaroid is discontinuing film production, I fought the urge to go out and stockpile film. It doesn’t last, and anyhow, I figured I ought to be satisfied that I’d had the chance to make my book.Â
But then the other day, moseying about in the camera store on my lunch break, it occurred to me to check how much film was still in stock. I was sad to see the discontinued item stickers on the boxes and a March 09 expiration date. But hey, I thought, maybe I should have one last hurrah with the DayLab Jnr. And then I thought, perhaps some others might like to join me? All of a sudden, I was thinking Goodbye Polaroid Party in my studio. Have you ever wanted to make polaroid transfers? Would you like to learn? It’s pretty easy, particularly with a hot water bottle in the mix. All you need are slides, Polaroid film and paper. Oh, and a brayer or a wooden spoon. It helps to be superstitious as well, I find.Â
What I’m thinking is an evening or a weekend afternoon sometime soon. You’d bring your slides and I’d get you started printing transfers. There’d be cake and champagne, of course. Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in. If there’s enough of us, I’ll get an organising committee into action.
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