Unlike other lifting media, BVDA Gellifters have been especially developed for the lifting of fingerprints, shoeprints, dust marks and micro traces. The thick, non-aggressive, low-tack gelatin layer allows traces to be lifted from almost every surface, including porous material such as paper and cardboard.
Gellifters Black
The gelatin layer of these Gellifters features two special qualities: jetblack color and the high-gloss finish. The high-gloss provides for a reflection of light from the illumination source. Any light not reflected by the gelatin layer will be absorbed. Traces picked up by the Gellifter, however, will reflect the light in all directions.The result is a high contrast between the lifted material and the gelatin layer. Black fingerprint powders, lifted with a black Gellifter yield images that are sharp and rich in contrast.
EXAMPLES:
Used coffee cup, fingerprint powder may not only adhere to the fingerprints but als to the coffee stains on the surface
No development, only a black Gellifter is applied
Inverted image
Silver special used on coated paper (book cover)
Detail
After lifting with a black Gellifter, scanned (GLScan), mirrored, inverted
Fingerprint visualized with cyanoacrylate fuming
Fingerprint lifted with BVDA black gellifter
Lifted fingerprint on black Gellifter after inverting the colors
Gellifters White
The gelatin layer of the white Gellifter absorbs blood and dyes from staining solutions. These traces can easily be copied onto the gelatin layer and then viewed free from a interfering background. The extreme white color of this Gellifter has a low fluorescence. Staining solutions which fluoresce when excited with green light (e.g., Hungarian Red) will therefore show up in high contrast to the gelatin layer. We advise that shoeprints in dust be lifted with the black Gellifters, even when lifting dark colored prints that intuitively would seem to contrast better on white Gellifters. A clearer and better contrasting result is always obtained with a black Gellifter.
Applications:
• Traces in blood;
• Traces in blood after chemical enhancement;
• Old prints (improving);
• Prints in staining solutions;
• Collection of paint traces (on vehicles);
• Muddy shoeprints on non-porous surfaces stained with Safranine O.
EXAMPLES:
Fingerprint in blood on a knife stained with Hungarian Red
A piece of white gellifter on the knife to lift the stained print
The white lifter is removed from the knife showing the lifted stain
Print in blood stained with Hungarian Red and lifted with a white gellifter
Fluorescence of ifted print stained with Hungarian Red
Gellifters Transparent
These Gellifters are used mainly to lift fingerprints and to make comparison shoeprints. Their advantage is that they provide positive image of a print.
Unlike tape products for lifting prints, the Gellifter has a low-tack adhesive layer which is thick enough to lift complete prints from rough or polluted surfaces. Fingerprint powder and impurities that may remain on a print after powdering do not cause missing spots in the lift due to bubbles caught between the adhesive layer and the surface.
Applications:
• Fingerprints developed with fingerprint powders (to obtain a positive image);
• Comparison shoeprints