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I've been printing with liquid emulsion onto pieces of copper, all have been sanded and reused a couple times. I clean them with sodium bicarbonate. Then put a layer of gelatin and let it dry. Heat up the emulsion to 130 degrees, apply it to the plates, let it dry. Expose the image and develop it in 2:1 developer, a short fixer bath, then a longer fixer bath, both with hardener. Then wash in water. At some point there is a chemical reaction and the emulsion turns silver and black instead of seeing the copper through the highlights. Sometimes when it dries though, the emulsion pops off the copper. It happens very quickly, and doesn't peal, it looks like a little explosion. It happened with some during and immediately after drying, so I thought it was the contraction of the drying gelatin, but now it's happened with some that have been dry for about two weeks. Does anyone have any insight on this problem? Thanks!
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