An Exhaustive and Exhausting Guide

to the Lippmann Process

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Lippmann Plates are a fascinating color process dating back to the late 19th century, and are the only process that can permanently record and reproduce a full spectrum of light.  The colors are not produced by dyes or pigments, and do not rely on any sort of three-color model.  Instead, they use the interference of lightwaves on themselves - the same mechanism that produces color in butterfly wings and peacock feathers.  To quote a friend of mine, "Imagine you took oil slick and made a picture out of it".  

I've found Lippmann plates to be an exceedingly frustrating and finicky process, frequently causing me to burn out take extensive breaks.  However, I always came crawling back - there is something truly magical about these plates and those shiny, "holographic" colors they produce.  I dare say that it is the one of the analoggest of all historical processes out there, certainly the analoggest color process.  You will be hard pressed to find another process that can more directly capture a moment of time and directly imbue that moment onto an object.  

I believe the Lippmann process fell out of favor far too quickly to ever to ever fully realize its potential, and it is quite possible the finest examples of the process have yet to be created.  I cannot give you the best recipe to make these things, but I can give you a pretty darn good place to start.  I'm hoping the information I share here will let you step on a few less rakes than I did in my hopeless journey to truly master this process.