2 questions on carbon printing

Good day,

I have two general questions with regards to the carbon printing process, which hopefully someone can answer. I have no experience with carbon printing but have long-term goals of getting into it at some point. So, here we go:

(1) When using fixed-out silver gelatine paper as the final support, are two fixing baths required/suggested, just as for archivally processed silver gelatine print, or is one sufficient? I presume the issue would be browning of insufficiently fixed-out silver when exposed to light, which would show through the highlights of a carbon print?

(2) Can carbon prints be dry-mounted or does the heat of the dry mounting press soften and thus damage the carbon emulsion?

Many thanks in advance,

Markus

Markus Albertz said:

Good day,

I have two general questions with regards to the carbon printing process, which hopefully someone can answer. I have no experience with carbon printing but have long-term goals of getting into it at some point. So, here we go:

(1) When using fixed-out silver gelatine paper as the final support, are two fixing baths required/suggested, just as for archivally processed silver gelatine print, or is one sufficient? I presume the issue would be browning of insufficiently fixed-out silver when exposed to light, which would show through the highlights of a carbon print?

(2) Can carbon prints be dry-mounted or does the heat of the dry mounting press soften and thus damage the carbon emulsion?

Many thanks in advance,

Markus

Click to expand...

Your first question is very interesting. In short, I would say that two fixing baths are not necessary if the base is to be use for a carbon print. Just make sure that the bath you use does not exhaust, and wash the print very thoroughl.

Carbon prints can indeed be dry mounted. The carbon emulsion is very stable and hard and can withstand dry mounting at temperatures as high or even higher than would be considered normal for silver gelatin prints.

Let me add this. Anyone thinking of learning to print with carbon should recognize that it is aprocess that will demand a significant committment of time and energy. For best results you may even want to consider giving up other processes until you achieve some mastery with carbon. A committment of time of six months to a year would be minimum in my opinion. Read as much as you can about the process, and a workshop with a good carbon printer could speed up the learning process a lot.


Sandy

Sandy, Thanks for your reply to my questions.

sanking said:

Let me add this. Anyone thinking of learning to print with carbon should recognize that it is aprocess that will demand a significant committment of time and energy. For best results you may even want to consider giving up other processes until you achieve some mastery with carbon. A committment of time of six months to a year would be minimum in my opinion. Read as much as you can about the process, and a workshop with a good carbon printer could speed up the learning process a lot.

Sandy

Click to expand...

The implied enormous time commitment seems consistent with the impression I get from my initial reading. Realistically, it will be a while before I can make the jump, mostly for logistical reasons and a lack of time at the moment. I really am at a very initial stage where I read about carbon printing whatever I can get my hands on, and I continue to be intrigued about this process. So, my questions, of course, are all over the place rather than in any systematic and logical order.

Anyhow, I can now add two more Q&A to my mental carbon printing guide ;-)

Best, Markus