Andrew O'Neill
Moderator
Trisodium Citrate instead of Sodium Citrate in the developer?
Edit: I checked on Google, and apparently, they are sort of the same?
Hi Andrew,
Welcome back!
The process described in OP works fine and I've tested it on a variety of papers including Schut (courtesy @koraks), Canson Montval 300 gsm, Magnani Toscana 300 gsm, Magnani Velata 200 gsm, Chitrapat 440 gsm, Fabriano Bristol, Strathmore 300 Bristol, Brustro Bristol, Canson XL Marker, Brustro Marker, Strathmore Layout Bond, Copier Bond paper and even the lowly Butter Paper. Colour palette varies somewhat across papers mostly due to the presence of the buffer and other paper additives, but I don't get rogue pigments, smudges, bleeding or prodigious stain.
The only advice I would give at this stage is the following:
1. If your paper can withstand multiple water development steps, give the paper acid treatment to neutralise the buffer. Remove the residual acid in the paper by giving it a good wash in tap water.
1 tsp of Citric Acid/Sulfamic Acid in 1 l of water can be used for 5 X A4 sized sheets.
2. Prepare just enough sensitiser and developer needed for a session:
Sensitiser to coat one A4 size paper:Water: 1 mlFerric Ammonium Citrate (green): 0.25 gPotassium Ferricyanide: 0.2 gAmmonium Chloride: 0.25 gWater to make: 2 mlDeveloper for one A4 size paper:Water: 5 mlCupper Sulphate: 0.1 gTrisodium Citrate: 0.4 g
3. Coat the paper in relatively dry environment. If that's not possible, dry the coated paper well by blowing warm air on the coated side as well as the other side with a hair drier for a few minutes, and expose immediately. After the exposure is complete, avoid exposing the print to air till it is developed.
Humidity in the paper as well as the environment influences the formation of Prussian Blue from Prussian White during exposure and afterwards. As the formation of Copper Ferrocyanide during the development step critically depends on the availability of Prussian White, controlling humidity helps.
4. Develop in Copper Complex for 2-5 minutes. Longer development is not required.
5. Use plain water for the first wash as this helps in reducing stain in the whites. Citric Acid can be used in the second wash.
Thank you for your continued interest in FerroBlend and happy printing whenever you get back to it!
-- Raghu
They are; citric acid is a trivalent acid, meaning it can deprotonate three times. To make up for the loss of those protons, three electrons need to be borrowed from somewhere. Since sodium can share only one, it takes three sodiums to get the job done. Hence, the stable salt of citrate and sodium will always have these constituents in a 1:3 ratio.Edit: I checked on Google, and apparently, they are sort of the same?
They are; citric acid is a trivalent acid, meaning it can deprotonate three times. To make up for the loss of those protons, three electrons need to be borrowed from somewhere. Since sodium can share only one, it takes three sodiums to get the job done. Hence, the stable salt of citrate and sodium will always have these constituents in a 1:3 ratio.
So.... Sodium Citrate and Trisodium Citrate are the same?
So.... Sodium Citrate and Trisodium Citrate are the same?
Raghu as a sidetrack, here an application of the FerroBlend, sort of. I still have some in the spray bottle. Working on a developer for the inkjet printed silver gelatin, I did some hand painted experiments. I thought some color in it would be nice too. So the Red is with FerroBlend sprayed on the Foma Variant 312 paper, then spray some KFerro over it. Same for the blue which is FAC and then spray some KFerro over it. (feel free to delete my post if not fitting) The border was added in Flickr to mask the blotting paper on my photo.
View attachment 402658
Raghu as a sidetrack, here an application of the FerroBlend, sort of. I still have some in the spray bottle. Working on a developer for the inkjet printed silver gelatin, I did some hand painted experiments. I thought some color in it would be nice too. So the Red is with FerroBlend sprayed on the Foma Variant 312 paper, then spray some KFerro over it. Same for the blue which is FAC and then spray some KFerro over it. (feel free to delete my post if not fitting) The border was added in Flickr to mask the blotting paper on my photo.
View attachment 402658
Fortunately, there's never a lack of projects (or maybe, that should have been 'unfortunately'...)
Quite pretty nonetheless.
I decided to keep at it....
I decided to keep at it. I think I'm finally getting it. Who would have thought that a garbage paper from the Japanese dollar store here, would win out over the expensive stuff! Of course I had to bathe the paper in Sulfamic Acid (5% solution), followed by a thorough wash, before I got decent results. The other variable? The negative. The density range must be much longer and have a higer Dmax (1.50 was mine for the film neg I printed of the columns). Previously, I was using negatives for traditional Cyanotype. Once I re-jigged the profile and changed the curve (closer to my Kallitype curve), I was off to the races. Here is the print I made today, on the cheap Japanese dollar store paper...View attachment 404968
Yes! You want a long tonal scale for this process. Much longer than for classic cyano.The other variable? The negative.
Yes! You want a long tonal scale for this process. Much longer than for classic cyano.
Exposure
- 15 minutes using six Philips Actinic BL TL-D 18W lights for a negative with a density range of 1.8–2.2.
- Expose the sensitized and dried paper as you would for Cyanotype (until highlights appear green and deep shadows are reversed).
This is a test contact print from a 10x8 Foma 200 negative - bird of paradise flower photographed under UV light in the studio.
Workflow:
. I used the OP's directions for sensitiser and developer,
. glass rod coated A/B, 1+1ml
. air dried in the dark,
. about 30 seconds blow dry both sides,
. then exposed for 8 minutes under 365nm LEDs,
. rod coated with developer, 2ml
. left in the dark for 15 minutes,
. initial 2 minute wash in weak citric acid solution, then washed for about 20 minutes.
Still some more work to do, but it looks promising so far. Paper was Bergger COT160.
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