I did try various amounts of crumpling. I found that the more crumpled the bag, the higher number of colors.
Hmm. I wonder what would happen if you tied the plastic the way people do for tie dyeing, let it sit or pressed the folds in a book for a day or so, then untied it? Might make the colors better organized visually?
The drawback being a lessening of intensity, perceived or real I don't know. I focused on the texture that was there. I even dropped bits of more "textured" plastic in the scene, because I felt that the viewer needed a little more context to sink their teeth into.
As for the relationship between oil and plastic, did you try dropping specs of motor oil or gasoline on the plastic to see how they moved and levelled? I wonder how that would look. Gotta have a fan nearby without blowing on the plastic, though.
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Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@cape.com 508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf
