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What You’ll Need:
A fresh picture made with Impossible Project’s black frame instant film. (For best results, use a print that is no more than a day old.)
A pair of scissors.
A hairdryer.
Step One: Trim The Edges
To turn your instant print into a transparency, you’re going to be peeling the clear part of your print from it’s black backing.
Using your scissors, cut as close as you can to the outer edge of the black frame, trimming the edges off.
You can trim the borders to be as thick or thin as you choose. (We recommend trimming them as thin as possible at first, and cutting down after you’re finished if you want a smaller border.)
Step Two: Heat It Up!
Next, you’ll be heating your print up with a hair dryer.
This will make all the chemicals inside nice and warm so that you can easily dissect your masterpiece.
Hold your hairdryer about 12 inches from your print and carefully heat the print for 30 seconds on a medium or low heat setting.
Step Three: Test The Peel
Starting with the upper corner of your print, carefully separate the front layer from the back and slowly peel them apart.
The film should start to come apart like you see here.
If it doesn’t separate easily (or starts to rip), heat your film for another 30 seconds with your hair dryer and try again.
Step Four: Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated!
If your corner started to peel off well, great! Slowly and gently continue to peel the rest of your print.
Emulsion is very fragile and easy to rip, so it pays to be as slow and steady as possible while doing this step.
Once you’ve peeled the two layers from each other, you’re done!
Step Five: Ta-Da!
Throw away the scraps from the back of your print, and make sure you didn’t get any instant print goo on your hands.
(If you did, wash ‘em right away! Photo chemicals and skin don’t mix well.)
Leave the new transparency out to dry overnight, and then display it wherever you want!
Taking It Further:
Use acrylic or watercolor paint to color your print like we did here! Simply apply the paint to the back (non-shiny) side and let it dry for about an hour.
Make two transparencies and sandwich them together for a two-sided double exposure transparency!
Use string and fotoclips to hang your transparencies in a window or doorframe as decoration.
Combine your photo with text or illustration by attaching a fresh (not yet dry) transparency to a drawing or page in a book! The results will look like a double exposure of the two images.
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