Silver Halides, Craft and Laser Beams Hand-coating as a new creative tool in Holography

The making of silver halide-based material has long been regarded as too complex a task for holographic practitioners. This thesis challenges that popular opinion and proves the feasibility of hand coating by introducing the diffusion method for holographic silver halide-based recording material making. The focus of my research is on how this new method can be developed and improved to make it accessible and usable for creative and general practitioners without the necessity of a background in chemistry. It does this in a practical approach through a process of experimentation with the diffusion method and by the production of holograms in the lab. My research situates the making of holographic plates in the realm of craft and argues that in-house plate making is not only a realisable option for the artist but a necessity for the survival of creative holography. By producing new tacit knowledge about the method and highlighting its importance, hand-coating in holography is promoted as a feasible way of improving creative holography practice. The diffusion method also allows for the production of holographic recording material on surfaces other than commonly used glass plates. My research liberates the three dimensional medium of holography from a two dimensional substrate. This gives the medium of creative holography the opportunity to expand the medium’s possibilities, to find a new visual language and to challenge the observer's eye in new ways. This thesis, and my research, offers a practical, and creatively beneficial, alternative to the expensive and often unreliable commercial holographic material which contemporary holographers currently contend with. It offers the practitioner both an entirely new way to produce holograms and through self-production of their own recording material, greater creative control and potential