Kallitype and metal additives

[Johnindc]

I am experimenting with small amounts of dilute Pt and Pd chlorides in kallitype chemistry as per Sandy King. See his comments on metal additives:

http://www.alternativephotography.com/process_kallitype.html

I am getting very positive results and wonder if anyone has experience with this and what they have discovered.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

It's a pity that this thread didn't find any traction back in the heyday of Apug!


Are there anyone here today adding Pt/Pd/Au or other metal additives to Kallitype sensitiser? How have been your results? Any examples of the same print with and without metal additive that you can share?

 

[Franswa]

I would love to see some results as well. And for anyone adding the additive in their sensitizer, are you also toning with another metal before fixing?

 

[cirwin2010]

I've actually tried adding sodium chloropalladite to my kallitype sensitizer. It does not work! It produces a white participate that I believe is silver chloride and ruins the sensitizer. Unless I am completely misunderstanding what Sandy King has written, it does not work. I cannot speak to the other additives mentioned, but maybe avoid mercury if you are working in a home darkroom.

Also on a somewhat related note, don't take Sandy Kings notes as gospel. His resources are dated and in need of revision. I have found a number of errors in his notes and in the information provided in Don Nelson's book about the process (worked with Sandy King on the book). My understanding is he hasn't really practiced for many years and mostly works on carbon transfer prints or the occasional Van Dyke brown. His notes on Pt Pd additives don't work with silver nitrate and his information regarding double toning kallitypes has errors regarding the reactivity series of metals. Gold will plate out Pt and Pd, not the other way around. I've tested this, got involved with the published of the aforementioned book, and had my results confirmed by a third party chemist.

One of these days I might make my own article on the process with my own notes.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Adding Tetrachloropalladate to Kallitype sensitiser has one undesirable consequence - the sensitiser curdles due to formation of Silver Chloride. It might be a better idea to do a first coat with just Tetrachloropalladate diluted suitably followed by a second coat with the regular Kallitype sensitiser. In this case also Silver Chloride is formed but is embedded in the fibres of the paper similar to what happens in Salt Print process.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Also IIRC Sandy recommends consulting Dick Steven's bookon Kallitype for more details on metal additives. And Dick does talk about the formation of Silver Chloride, in his book, when the additives are added to the sensitiser. He recommends filtering the sensitiser to remove the precipitate.

 

[cirwin2010]

Also IIRC Sandy recommends consulting Dick Steven's bookon Kallitype for more details on metal additives. And Dick does talk about the formation of Silver Chloride, in his book, when the additives are added to the sensitiser. He recommends filtering the sensitiser to remove the precipitate.

I wonder how much silver is lost in this process. Also I would think that filtering using a paper filter will result in wasted sensitizer as the paper will absorb some of it. I can't imagine you would make up large quantities of combat this as once ferric oxalate is added it isn't very shelf stable.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

My memory isn't often as good as I think it is unfortunately. I must apologise for misquoting Dick Steven. He doesn't recommend filtering actually. Here are his exact words:

"One problem with all these salts is that they contain chloride, which precipitates insoluble silver chloride from the sensitizer. Therefore, when any of these salts is added to a kallitype sensitizer, the silver nitrate forms a curdy precipitate with the chloride. It turns out that no great harm comes from some of these precipitates. Left in the sensitizer, the precipitates normally do not cause streaks, so they need not be filtered out. Filtering the precipitate may actually decrease the density of the prints. The precipitate should be stirred before each sensitizer application to ensure a relatively homogeneous distribution of liquid and precipitate on the paper."

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

This situation is similar to Moersch's Lobotype process where the sensitiser curdles like it does here but can still be used to coat the paper and get nice defectless prints.

 

[cirwin2010]

I take back what I said about it not working. I admittedly didn't try mixing up the particulate. I just saw the gross white stuff and figured it would leave marks on the paper. Clearly there is more information about the method.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

It might be a better idea to do a first coat with just Tetrachloropalladate diluted suitably followed by a second coat with the regular Kallitype sensitiser. In this case also Silver Chloride is formed but is embedded in the fibres of the paper similar to what happens in Salt Print process.

Interestingly, there was a variant of Kallitype in America, unsurprisingly called American Kallitype, that a) used a metal additive in the sensitiser and b) took a salt printing like approach for coating.

From CASSELL'S Encyclopedia of photography, 1911:

American Kallitype. — In America much attention has been paid to kallitype, and many formulae and improvements have been introduced. The Jas. Thomson process needs a "salting" and a" sensitising" solution : —

Salting Solution
Ferric-ammonio citrate 45 g.
Ferric oxalate 27 g.
Potassium oxalate 27 g.
Copper chloride 13.5 g.
Oxalic acid 9 g.
Gum arabic 22.5 g.
Distilled water 1,000 ccs.

The paper (sized if velvety tones are desired) is coated with the above, dried, and treated withthe sensitiser : —

Oxalic acid 4.5 g.
Citric acid 45 g.
Silver nitrate 112.5 g.
Water 1,000 ccs.

When surface dry, complete the drying by gentie heat, but excess of heat will convert the ferric salt to ferrous. For printing, three or four minutes in sunlight is generally sufficient. The image appearing is chestnut brown upon a yellow ground, and printing should be stopped before the half-tones appear. The print is placed direct into clear cold water, where it will develop fully; four changes of water, or about three minutes in running water, will be sufficient. After washing, fix in a weak "hypo" bath (50 grs. to 32 oz.); a ten-minute immersion is generally sufficient. Wash in plain water for about half an hour and dry; the resultant colour should be a good brown.

---

No idea if there are any contemporary practitioners of American Kallitype printing process though Dick Steven has tried some of Thomson's brown print formulas and makes interesting remarks on them in his book.