A few questions about "new" cyanotype

[NedL]

Late reply to this thread but maybe useful if someone else reads it in the future.

I suspect the "ca 62ml" yield in Mike's instructions is a typo. It's probably about the amount of DH2O you need to add to make 100ml total. We're starting with about 50ml of solution, so around 40ml after filtering out the crystals makes sense.

My first batch is cooling/crystallizing right now... so I guess I'll come back and eat crow if the volume of solution miraculously expands!

EDIT: I spoke too soon! See post 28!

 

[BHuij]

Good to know - thanks!

I'm at a point where I've gathered enough personal evidence (and anecdotal evidence from other users of the Mike Ware process) that I feel pretty good making the following assertions:

1) New Cyanotype doesn't play nicely with HPR, and it's really difficult to get consistent results
2) I need to build a new tone curve to get optimal results anyway, my Kallitype-optimized negatives are not going to work

When the cyanotype bug next bites, I think I will actually just try standard cyanotype and go through the effort to build a new curve. That way I can continue doing all of my alt process work on HPR for the foreseeable future.

 

[NedL]

I think new cyanotype has a reputation for being fussy/finicky to get right. I'm not sure if I need to "eat crow" or not, but I ended up with more solution than I expected.... the dry chemicals must add volume. I made 25ml total... with 12.5ml of water in the first concentrated mixture. After filtering, I had more than 1/2 of my final volume, and probably around 60%.

I think I spoke too soon and the dry chemicals add volume to the initial solution.