Unusual to say the least

A couple of weekends ago a friend stopped by the studio so I could return a basket she had loaned us; but she brought with her the most intriguing gift.

I had never seen nor heard of these before; but they were watercolour 'stamps' used to hand tint black and white photographs. It felt somewhat serendipitous seeing as I had been spending so much time playing with watercolours and swatches.

They came in a book, with perforations just as stamps used to, and the idea is to take a stamp or portion thereof, add water, create the tint colour and then apply to brighten the photogrpah.

I simply adored the booklet as a beautiful object, irrespective of what it could do: the curling fore edges, the rusted staples, the foxed paper...

I read the directions. 

And looked at the colours. I learned that the colour is actually on the back of the stamp.

I took out an old school photo and tried to come up with some colours that might suit. You'd have to say the colours are pretty loud and proud; not a real lot of subtlety within them, and I wasn't yet confident to mix them too much.

So I tore off a few bits; and added water.

What a hoot! Everybody ended up with quite bright hair! Still, I kind of like the funny effects they produced and will think about using them again on something more substantial.

They definitely give a sense of an era I think.

This was the other photo I found - gotta love the gloves and the handbag and the socks! Not sure if I will simply let it be, or have a go at making me smile.