Alt. Print Exchange, April 2011

FredW · May 20, 2011

Just received Eugene's lovely cyanotype. Thank you very much, its been another successful exchange.

Eugene, when going from an negative - positive - negative, process, one should target the development of the film positive to be slightly flat, with good detail in the shadows, and highlights. By this I mean, if it makes a good slide, you are over developing. You achieve the final contrast in making the enlarged negative. That being said, I have not used x-ray film, so i do not know how good it is at recording the tonal range available.

You mention two coatings, does that mean that you had to re-register the print for the second exposure?

Fred.

anikin · May 20, 2011

Thank you Fred, I'm glad you like it. About the negative contrast. X-ray film I used did not produce much of a contrast in my Ansco 130 developer - I think it's inherently low contrast film. The cleared highlights resulted from my multi-layer coating approach. Now, from the letter it sounds like I did it on purpose. That could not be any further from the truth. This is my first set of cyanotypes, so the multi-coating was an honest mistake, I like the results, and maybe next time I'll do it on purpose .
The deal is, my 9 year old daughter did a first set of cyanotypes for her school project. I did not touch them, only supervised. She used Sullivan's formula, except she substituted potassium dichromate for ammonium dichromate. It produced beautiful deep blue prints. However, the coating had a few blue spots in it after drying. My initial theory was that the amount of dichromate was too much, so when I started this project, I reduced it by a third. I tried a first test print and amazingly the print was yellowish-brown like what you see in the highlights. The only issue was that it had rather low d-max. I tried adding couple more coatings from the same mix, which resulted some improvement in contrast, but still not enough. Out of desperation, I mixed the exact Sullivan formula and put another coat on the paper. And this is the result that you see. It is only one exposure, however very long. The yellow coating is slower than blue, so it causes some clipping in the highlights. I agree with you that doing some kind of registration and double exposure first with yellow coating and then with blue should produce much nicer dual-tone image. I'm only afraid it's quite a bit more than my current level of expertise.

sly · Jun 8, 2011

Group 1 - Waaaay behind

Well, I've finally finished my prints, and now Canada Post is on strike - but they're moving the action around the country - a couple of cities a day, so I'll get them packaged up.

It's been hard to find spare darkroom time this spring. Usually I'd be feeling pretty guilty about being so late, but I haven't recieved any prints. Others must be having a hard time getting it together as well.

I'm in group 1. Paul has posted, so I know he's working on prints. Haven't heard from the other 2 in our group. Are you still in? Should I send your print?

adamc · Jun 8, 2011

Yes sly, I'm still in. I've been building a permanent darkroom in my house, and thought it would take a lot less time to finish. That, along with other obligations haven't given me much opportunity to work. My aplologies to the rest of my group, I'll get it together and have the prints finished and in the mail soon.

Adam

sly · Jun 8, 2011

Just glad to know you're still working towards it Adam. Hope your new darkroom is lovely, efficient, and roomy. I thought my darkroom was terrific when we built it 6-7 years ago, but that was before I had a 4x5 enlarger, before I owned an 8x10 camera, before I started alt printing. I don't have enough countertop, a big enough sink, and there are waaaay too few cupboards and shelves. 3 times bigger would be good.

adamc · Jun 8, 2011

Here's a pic my wife took a few days ago. I wouldn't say it's roomy, but it is lovely and hopefully effecient. I've got to try it out once, and it's going to be a great space for making prints. The room is about 12.5 x 5ft with a nice 5.5 x 2.5ft sink.

Again, sorry to my group for the delay - I'll be starting on your prints soon.

Adam

paul_c5x4 · Jun 10, 2011

Fourteen sheets later, I think there might be three usable prints. Once dry, I hope to get them finished some time during the week.

paul_c5x4 · Jul 3, 2011

Just received Adam's salt print - Packaging got a little beat up by the postal system, but the print survived with minimal damage. Not seen a salt print before..

Mine should be in the post this week (once I've found a couple of sturdy boxes).

paul_c5x4 · Jul 7, 2011

Prints are finally on their way to sly, adamc, and tj01 - Hopefully the Canadian post is getting back to normal so Lillian's box should arrive within two weeks. Last time I checked, Homeland Security (sic) is still delaying mail for "additional security checks". No idea what the service is like to Malaysia, but I suspect it will beat all others in the race

As to the process used, I'll leave it as a surprise for the recipients.

paul_c5x4 · Jul 12, 2011

Just received tj01's print - Unfortunately, no info attached so I kinda assume it is a gum print of view around Bukit Tabur near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - I've tried my hand at gum printing once (must try again soon), and didn't achieve the tonal range this print exhibits. One to frame and hang on the wall for a while methinks. Thanks tj01.

adamc · Jul 14, 2011

I received Paul's print in the mail, very securely packaged. I opened it up and found a beautiful gem of a print inside! I won't spoil the surprise for the others in my group and say exactly what the process is...I've seen this type of print in a gallery, but I've never held one in my hands - it's truly fantastic and inspirational. Thanks Paul!

paul_c5x4 · Jul 14, 2011

Had word that the print sent to tj01 arrived safely a day or so ago, so just waiting on Canadian Post to deliver to sly - I wasn't sure how well the print(s) would survive being thrown around the world, so glad two have arrived so quickly and without damage.

sly · Jul 27, 2011

I finally got my prints into the mail this past week. I also recieved 2.

A mountainy watery landscape - Bukit Tabur. I'm not sure what the process is. A combi-type? Gum maybe? Would love to hear more about it TJ.

An orotone (without the gold) from Paul. Never seen this process before - it looks quite appealing. Thanks Paul - not that I really needed another process to add to my bucket list. I haven't got a good enough handle on the ones I've already taken on.

tj01 · Aug 3, 2011

I'm glad my humble prints arrived safely.

Paul, I think your plate was temperature damaged on the way to me. The plate is intact, but it looks like one of those 'Harry Potter disappear in a puff of smoke photos'. I'm quite sad it's damaged.
Would love to see how it should be, will email you privately what I received ( received 2 weeks ago I think ).

Thanks
TJ

paul_c5x4 · Aug 3, 2011

tj01 said:
Paul, I think your plate was temperature damaged on the way to me. The plate is intact, but it looks like one of those 'Harry Potter disappear in a puff of smoke photos'. I'm quite sad it's damaged.
Would love to see how it should be, will email you privately what I received ( received 2 weeks ago I think ).

Sorry about that - The email got caught by the spam filter..

I see what looks like a solid white line down one side - It looks like the reflection from a fluorescent tube.. If it isn't, then it is damage. From memory, I had wrapped each plate in yellow tissue, placed in a ziplok bag, and then encased in polystyrene. Water damage would have caused the tissue to stick to the plate, and high temperature would (most likely) caused the polystyrene to melt. If you could post another image in this thread, perhaps one of the resident experts could comment - You might want to try using a polarising filter to cut down on reflections.

A slightly cropped print on Ilford Art 300:

UKJohn · Aug 5, 2011

Hi,

Sorry for being so far behind, I've had a bit of a disastrous journey with this exchange but my prints are all parceled up and will be in the post this weekend. Thank you for the three wonderful prints received they are just superb and I feel a little ashamed that my offering isn't quite up to par.

Thanks for all your patience.

John

rst · Aug 20, 2011

Hi John,

I received your two beautiful prints today. I like them both. Actually I like the one with the pasta plates a bit - which is good because I already lost the battle about the triptychon. My daughter got her hands on it and she likes it very much. So you made more than one person happy in our house.

Thanks and Cheers
Ruediger

UKJohn · Aug 23, 2011

Thanks Ruediger for the kind words I'm pleased you like them both. The triptych was a struggle and I still need to refine the process whilst as I am sure you can see there is some staining in the masked area around the pasta plates print. This occurred or appeared after drying, I've undertaken a little research into this and found a thread where Sandy King suggests a 1% sodium sulphite bath so I'll be trying this on future prints to see if this addresses the problem. Once again thanks for comments and sorry they took so long to arrive.

John

paul_c5x4 · Sep 19, 2011

sly said:
I finally got my prints into the mail this past week.

The print finally arrived a couple of days ago - Looks like Canadian Post is still trying to get through the backlog from their strike/lockout....

I love the detail and tonal range of the print - I need to find time to sit down and take a long look at it (looks like I'll be doing 60hr weeks in the run up to xmas).

Click to expand...

tj01 · Oct 5, 2011

Sly,
Your prints arrived yesterday, from the watermark 2 and half months after. It's going to be framed up and hung in a very nice place in the house. I love it.
TJ

sly · Oct 8, 2011

It turns out I might as well have hand delivered Paul's. Saw him in Norfolk in September. Glad at least 2 of them have finally arrived at their destinations. I think I'll stay away from any more exchanges, at least this year.

Alt. Print Exchange, April 2011

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