Fun with Flexichrome-1952 Topps Baseball

[samosa4u]

Originally Posted by Phil68

Hello!
Kodachrome is a type of color film that was in use from 1936-2009 and, recently, the final destination that processed it closed down for good. The '53 Bowmans were Kodachrome. The warm browns and reddish tones made Kodachrome a favorite for a long time. It was expensive to work with and process but the results were satisfying. You can mimic Kodachrome in photoshop--among other programs--by creating or plugging in filters. I have done this in making many of my Banty Red source files. Basically, digital killed Kodachrome. It is still my personal favorite.

Monochrome refers to "one color" or black & white. To make my cards, I typically turn ANY image into monochrome and then use filters in photoshop RGB (Red, Green, Blue) to lighten or darken the exposure in various spots.

Flexichrome Is quite involved. Basically, it is a colorization method used by Topps in the 1950's and early 60's (used quite a bit on Hockey & Football). You can still purchase kits on eBay and you can Google the kits and find sellers. You basically paint onto an image of the negative that you would have transferred to Kodak paper. 1952 Topps was the first set to utilize the method. Many times, the colors look a bit cartoonish. The glossing they used muted them quite a bit as did the stock which was more cream than white. Still, the beauty of '52 Topps is all about Flexichrome.
I haven't gotten really good with it yet. Each image takes me a couple of hours--just for the art-- and with my set at nearly 500 cards, I don't see me offering the whole set in Flexichrome. Still, I have done 80 of them since Christmas...time sure adds up!

Thanks for taking the time to explain these things to me.

When you look at the whole card-making process, there are a lot of things that you can learn about very quickly. However, the one area which is very difficult to understand is the artwork, and of course, how it was transferred to stone or zinc or whatever.

Now according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Leaf Gum Co. used Chromolithography to make their cards in the 1940s. I find that a little bit odd because the baseball cards from the 1800s were made using this technique. I would've thought that by the late 1940s, Leaf Gum Co. would've used a different type of technology. What are your thoughts on this?

So, the 53' Bowmans (football and baseball) are the only cards that feature Kodachrome photographs? No other set has ever done this? What about the sets Bowman put out in 1950, 1951 and 1952? Are these Flexichrome? They obviously don't look like the cards from 1953, and I don't think they look as nice as the 52' Topps cards either. It's all very confusing!