Eastman Wash-Off Relief
Description
“In October 1935 Eastman Kodak Company introduced Eastman Wash-Off Relief. For years the company had been producing matrices and blank films for Technicolor motion pictures, and Kodak engineers were familiar with the requirement of the dye imbibition process.12 Wash-Off Relief was the company’s first color printing material and represented great progress in imbibition printing. By following the instructions precisely, users could repeatedly produce prints with respectable results, a feat difficult to achieve with earlier dye imbibition printing materials. From three separation negatives, gelatin reliefs were printed on Kodak Matrix Film, which consisted of a yellow-dyed gelatin silver bromide emulsion laid on a thin cellulose nitrate base.13 The film was exposed through the base, developed, and bleached in dichromate bleach, which turned the gelatin insoluble in the silver image areas. The bleached reliefs were washed in hot water to eliminate untanned gelatin in the nonimage areas. Each relief was then dyed in an appropriate color dye bath (yellow, magenta, or cyan) and squeegeed successively into close contact with a sheet of mordanted gelatin-coated paper. With Eastman Wash-Off Relief, the first matrix was transferred without registration; the subsequent matrices were then adjusted visually and individually while superimposed on the transferred first image with a sheet of thin clear film interposed between the two. The dyes transferred completely into the gelatin layer, and the three transfers formed a full-color image (Fig. 4.13). The same set of matrices could produce an unlimited number of prints. If needed, prints were spotted while still damp with transfer dyes diluted in a 1% solution of Photo-Flo. If larger areas needed to be retouched, the prints were dried, and Kodak transparent oil colors were used instead.”
(Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on pp. 139–141.)
-
![]()
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, p. 140.
Secondary Sources
Pénichon, Sylvie (2013): Twentieth Century Colour Photographs. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification & Preservation. London, Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson, on pp. 139–141. View Quote
