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Sunday, July 9, 2023

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.


5 comments:

  1. What a great find and the instructions for each colour are a fascinating ... I've never seen anything the least bit like it, but you can bet I'll keep my eye out in the future

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    1. Aren't they simply amazing Liz? Who ever ever knew such a thing existed?!? I wish you well in any hunt for them - I have no idea where they were found or how...but shall try to follow up. Go well.

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  2. WOW! That's how I started out "tinting" photos. My father had a whole booklet (minus a couple of stamps) which must have dated back to the 1930s or possibly 20s.
    I found, the hard way, it was better to use the finest brush...so I cut my brushes down to just a few hairs!
    Golly! I've gone back more than 60 years! Thanks for this, Fiona

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    1. Oh Di I am so glad I posted this! I had thought - well it is a bit weird and out of character, but I was so enamoured of them, and they seemed to arrive at a similar time to when I was doing all the other watercolour thingies, it seemed apt. So happy you remember them and have used them - wow!

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  3. These are delightful - can just imagine how enjoyable it would have been to tint photos back when black & white was the only option. I recently obtained a book filled with small images of historic places along the Yukon River (from the Gold Rush era to about the 1940s) and I've been having a play with them in various ways - one was lightly tinting one area of an image with a faint wash of watercolour paint - it was oddly satisfying and incredibly enjoyable.

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I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.