Russ Swain

Minuscule.

Right. Hairs. And I thought, well, if I printed the background, couldn't I print those little hairs? Yeah. And so I went into the darkroom. We had a little black piece of carpet, and I pulled some fibers out of it, put them on my graphic camera, and I shrank it down to 25%, which is as small as it would go back in those days. It was before computers. And I photographed them.

Right. Hairs. And I thought, well, if I printed the background, couldn't I print those little hairs? Yeah. And so I went into the darkroom. We had a little black piece of carpet, and I pulled some fibers out of it, put them on my graphic camera, and I shrank it down to 25%, which is as small as it would go back in those days. It was before computers. And I photographed them.

Right. Hairs. And I thought, well, if I printed the background, couldn't I print those little hairs? Yeah. And so I went into the darkroom. We had a little black piece of carpet, and I pulled some fibers out of it, put them on my graphic camera, and I shrank it down to 25%, which is as small as it would go back in those days. It was before computers. And I photographed them.

I shot a plate, and I thought, okay, if I print these red and then flip it upside down... and printed the opposite way in blue, you know, let's see what happens. It worked beautifully. And I thought, okay, so now the fear was evaporating because I was getting caught up in the creativity. I will say this, the essence of creativity and crime are both based on uncertainty.

I shot a plate, and I thought, okay, if I print these red and then flip it upside down... and printed the opposite way in blue, you know, let's see what happens. It worked beautifully. And I thought, okay, so now the fear was evaporating because I was getting caught up in the creativity. I will say this, the essence of creativity and crime are both based on uncertainty.

I shot a plate, and I thought, okay, if I print these red and then flip it upside down... and printed the opposite way in blue, you know, let's see what happens. It worked beautifully. And I thought, okay, so now the fear was evaporating because I was getting caught up in the creativity. I will say this, the essence of creativity and crime are both based on uncertainty.

And the farther you get away from uncertainty, the more you move into a realm of fear. And I'll get into that later because you're moving into the realm of risk, I guess is what I'm saying.

And the farther you get away from uncertainty, the more you move into a realm of fear. And I'll get into that later because you're moving into the realm of risk, I guess is what I'm saying.

And the farther you get away from uncertainty, the more you move into a realm of fear. And I'll get into that later because you're moving into the realm of risk, I guess is what I'm saying.

That is so perceptive of you because that forced out all of the fear. All of a sudden, I had something by the tail here, a masterpiece by the tail as far as I was concerned. Now, the creative side of me just completely took over. It's like scratching a creative itch. Okay, let's see what we can do here. So now, how can I reproduce this?

That is so perceptive of you because that forced out all of the fear. All of a sudden, I had something by the tail here, a masterpiece by the tail as far as I was concerned. Now, the creative side of me just completely took over. It's like scratching a creative itch. Okay, let's see what we can do here. So now, how can I reproduce this?

That is so perceptive of you because that forced out all of the fear. All of a sudden, I had something by the tail here, a masterpiece by the tail as far as I was concerned. Now, the creative side of me just completely took over. It's like scratching a creative itch. Okay, let's see what we can do here. So now, how can I reproduce this?

I had this graphic camera, so I thought I'm going to use photographic technique as much as I can. except that looking at the fine engraver of printed money, I thought, wow, they make this really hard because there's so much detail in this. And I realized every time I try to photograph this, I can hold a shadow dot in the highlight area only if I overexpose it, but I have to underexpose it.

I had this graphic camera, so I thought I'm going to use photographic technique as much as I can. except that looking at the fine engraver of printed money, I thought, wow, they make this really hard because there's so much detail in this. And I realized every time I try to photograph this, I can hold a shadow dot in the highlight area only if I overexpose it, but I have to underexpose it.

I had this graphic camera, so I thought I'm going to use photographic technique as much as I can. except that looking at the fine engraver of printed money, I thought, wow, they make this really hard because there's so much detail in this. And I realized every time I try to photograph this, I can hold a shadow dot in the highlight area only if I overexpose it, but I have to underexpose it.

So I started making little masks to put over the face of Andrew Jackson so that I could overexpose this part, underexpose that part. And little by little, it's, damn, it works. This looks perfect. I've got the little fibers. I've got the black ink. The quality of the printing is excellent. And I thought, damn, but it doesn't feel the same. What's missing? I got the paper. I got the currency.

So I started making little masks to put over the face of Andrew Jackson so that I could overexpose this part, underexpose that part. And little by little, it's, damn, it works. This looks perfect. I've got the little fibers. I've got the black ink. The quality of the printing is excellent. And I thought, damn, but it doesn't feel the same. What's missing? I got the paper. I got the currency.

So I started making little masks to put over the face of Andrew Jackson so that I could overexpose this part, underexpose that part. And little by little, it's, damn, it works. This looks perfect. I've got the little fibers. I've got the black ink. The quality of the printing is excellent. And I thought, damn, but it doesn't feel the same. What's missing? I got the paper. I got the currency.

New bills feel like very fine sandpaper. And it just happened that one of my clients was a jeweler. And she owned a jewelry store and she offered free diamond ring cleaning. And it was just something that she mentioned to me one day when I was in there. I said, what is this stuff?