Hi nmp, Yes, you are correct, I am using the ammonio-nitrate of silver brushed onto salted paper, in place of straight silver nitrate or silver nitrate mixed with a little citric acid. In the early days of salt printing, this was a common approach and it is mentioned in many early instructions for printing. Reading this
description of Thomas Rodger's printing process, is what piqued my interest, both because of the ammonio-nitrate of silver and because of the use of gold chloride in the salting solution, which sounds interesting. So it's interesting just from history and a connection to the past, but honestly that's not the reason I wanted to try it.
In salt printing it seems like every little detail makes a difference in how the final print looks. Whether it's the paper or the salt or the sizing or the toner or the light used to expose the print. So mostly I'm just curious to know what happens and how it looks. Whether there is any advantage or not, I don't know, but I expect the results to be different in some way, and can then decide if it's something I like and want to use or not.
I've only made the one print so far, but here's what I noticed: it printed faster ( than straight silver nitrate ), and there appeared to be some fog and uneven areas on the print before processing. It was a pinker/redder color, and it seemed to have less detail in the darker areas. When I put it in gold borax toner, it did not seem to respond much... I left it in longer than I normally would and did not observe much change. But then, in the fixer, it was as though a veil was removed, and the fog and uneven areas disappeared, as well as the reddish color, leaving the highlights clean and more detail in the dark areas. The print then had a very neutral grey color just like any print that has been left in the toner for a long time. I was quite surprised to see it change so much in the hypo... usually there is little change after toning. So there were fewer visual clues about how the print was going, and it would take some practice to get used to how much to print out and how to tone it. My print was too weak, and I think if I'm going to keep trying with the weak household ammonia, it will need to be double coated and printed deeper than I'm used to ( to account for the "fading" in the fixer, and probably make toning more effective ). But at the very end, there were nice subtle pinkish hints to the colors, and I think it might have promise for a print with delicate looking tones. So the end result does look different from a salt print made with straight silver nitrate, and it will need more tries to see if it's something I like well enough to keep doing it.
So, is there an advantage? I don't know yet, but it does make a print that looks different, and it seems to me promising enough to play around with it a little more to find out what it can do.
Cheers,
Ned
