Albumen dry vertical vs horizontal

I’am just start with making albumen prints. I’am reading now all information from books like Christopher James and Reilly about this classic procede. Today I did first coating experiments.
I read (Reilly page 39) that best drying for glossy print is temperture in range 30 to 50 degrees Celsius and dry vertical.
But why vertical ? At my home I have an drying box simulair like an Durst FRC400. I can put them there in horizontal. Why is that a problem?
Biggest problem I have now is uneven coating and paper that is curling terrible.I use very thin paper with the name: Crob’Art from Canson. Not used wetting agent, that would I try later.
Finally I want to make prints exactly like Card the Visite. So thin paper that’s glue on thick paper with logo on the back.
I can make an wood extension to my horizontal drying aparatus, but I want to be sure it’s usefull.
Thanks for reading, from The Netherlands . . .

mug said:

I’am just start with making albumen prints. I’am reading now all information from books like Christopher James and Reilly about this classic procede. Today I did first coating experiments.
I read (Reilly page 39) that best drying for glossy print is temperture in range 30 to 50 degrees Celsius and dry vertical.
But why vertical ? At my home I have an drying box simulair like an Durst FRC400. I can put them there in horizontal. Why is that a problem?
Biggest problem I have now is uneven coating and paper that is curling terrible.I use very thin paper with the name: Crob’Art from Canson. Not used wetting agent, that would I try later.
Finally I want to make prints exactly like Card the Visite. So thin paper that’s glue on thick paper with logo on the back.
I can make an wood extension to my horizontal drying aparatus, but I want to be sure it’s usefull.
Thanks for reading, from The Netherlands . . .

Click to expand...

My only guess would be that the vertical drying allows the excess albumen to run down so you will get an even coating (except right at the bottom where there would be a thicker zone.) I wonder if you just hang it for a little while to allow dripping and then transfer to your horizontal box for complete drying, you might get the best of both worlds.

(I am assuming you are floating the paper.)

:Niranjan.

Thanks. Seems like a good plan. 1st dry step vertically and then continue to dry horizontally. Indeed in use the floating method. Although I found two papers to stick together and immerse a lot of promising. I do not like working with a brush.

I just did shopping in the local supermarket here in the Netherlands for eggs.
I found next to the fresh eggs an bottle of Liquid Egg Whites. It's pasteurised. Seems easy (or less fun)
Should that work also ? I give it a try. Some-one tried it before ? Read about Egg Whites powder, not about Egg Whites liquid.

I’ve used liquid egg whites for ten years. I don’t know why anyone uses anything else. As for drying, I mark the back of the paper with a penciled arrow. After coating the albumen, I hang the paper with the arrow down. I cure a box of coated paper in the attic, then apply a second coat drying vertically with the arrow up. I hadn’t thought of horizontal drying, but I would be afraid of the albumen pooling. That might or might not be a desirable effect.

Well, I have already found that horizontal drying does NOT work. I get an irregular coating structurally.
I have (vertical drying methode) now made a double coating with a dozen small test papers.
Because I work with Canson Crob'Art (very thin paper 96 gsm), after each step I have to count an extra day for drying under a press to get the paper flat.
Make today some 6x9 negatives with SPUR SLD (N+1) I hope these negative are contrast rich enough

mug said:

Well, I have already found that horizontal drying does NOT work. I get an irregular coating structurally.
I have (vertical drying methode) now made a double coating with a dozen small test papers.
Because I work with Canson Crob'Art (very thin paper 96 gsm), after each step I have to count an extra day for drying under a press to get the paper flat.
Make today some 6x9 negatives with SPUR SLD (N+1) I hope these negative are contrast rich enough

Click to expand...

Yeah, hard to keep those thin paper from crumpling up, particularly if the coating is not even. I wonder how they managed to do it while producing those Card de visite's of yesteryears. Have you thought of using something to weigh down the paper while hanging?

:Niranjan.

Some Clothespin at the bottom helps a little bit. Also an horizontal Stir-wood with Clothespin at the bottom helps a little bit. But crumpling up is still there and I press the paper overnight to make it really flat .

I press mine in a stack in my dry mount press cold

Try wetting the backs with a spray bottle and some water. They curl because one side is expanding due to the moisture, and the other is not. It won't fix it, but it does help. Don't soak. Just hit it with a couple of squirts of a fine mist. Be careful to avoid getting the emulsion side wet.

I also attach some pants hangers to the bottoms of my prints when drying them. I use large, heavy ones to help keep the paper flatter. You and even hang some weights on the hook of the hanger for added force. Be careful not to add too much, because you don't want them slipping free of the hangers on top. Once again, it doesn't completely fix the issue, but it does mitigate it somewhat.

Recently, I've been fighting an issue where the emulsion on the top of the paper doesn't adhere well and the image is faded on one side (the top side) after printing. Horizontal drying doesn't work due to pooling of the emulsion as others have mentioned. I didn't have the issue before, so I think it's related to the paper I'm using (I'm trying to find a thicker paper that will suit my needs). I'm going to switch paper brands again and see what happens. If that doesn't work, I'll try rotating them through the drying process, or laying them horizontally for a few minutes before hanging them vertical to let the emulsion set up a bit better.

Hand coating is such a chore! Every time I get all of the bugs worked out, a new one rears its ugly head!