Antique Seagull paper

[Jarvman]

Apologies for dragging this topic up again but I couldn't find a suitable answer in the search results. I bought a box of Grade 3 Seagull Portrait Wamtone (blue box) off ebay a few months back and have just attempted to print on it. the paper doesn't seem fogged but its verrrry slow. I'm absolutely baking the paper. It's taking 30secs to a minute to get what looks like a nice exposure. the results would be very nice but there is absolutely NO black. Is there anything I can do here? Thanks

 

[Ian Grant]

Not a lot, I have some Seagull paper like that, it's a brand whose papers didn't keep well at all. (New Seagull paper is entirely different and sourced from a 3rd party).

Ian

 

[Jarvman]

aww, damn shame I really hoped to print on some of the original stuff as I've heard great things. Maybe I'll find a use for it somehow. Ta

 

[Anscojohn]

I wish people would refrain from referring to paper I used not so very long ago as "antique."

 

[c6h6o3]

How antique is it? I have some first generation Seagull from the late 1980s that still prints beautifully.

 

[Curt]

No, not a thing, I used to print on the "antique" paper when it was available. It produced the most beautiful blacks. When I bought the "new" paper I found that it wasn't the "antique" paper anymore. There is something definitely missing there. I don't like the "new" paper but that's my two cents worth. Now Carbon Transfer prints have great blacks.

 

[removed account4]

i had some of the same paper that when it was fresh opened in 1980s it took
as long as that to enlarge on. i think i remember 3mins of exposure or something
equally as absurd.

 

[Mike Crawford]

Apologies for dragging this topic up again but I couldn't find a suitable answer in the search results. I bought a box of Grade 3 Seagull Portrait Wamtone (blue box) off ebay a few months back and have just attempted to print on it. the paper doesn't seem fogged but its verrrry slow. I'm absolutely baking the paper. It's taking 30secs to a minute to get what looks like a nice exposure. the results would be very nice but there is absolutely NO black. Is there anything I can do here? Thanks

Hi there

The old graded Seagull Warmtone was a very different paper to the classic Seagull Oriental which was famous for wonderful smooth cold tones and great for lith printing. As I remember, the Portrait Warmtone was very warm, quite a soft green warmth with some developers, and very, very slow. (Also, quite a different paper to the Seagull VC Warmtone which is a lot faster and more brown black.) The paper you have will also lith print if you want to get some contrast out of it, but nothing like the classic (Anton Corbijn) Seagull look, more of a red highlights/green shadows tone, something similar to Foma but a bit too colourful for me. Still have a few boxes of 16x20 left from many years back. Maybe I should flog them on ebay!

 

[Jarvman]

Cheers for the reply Mike. That clarify things a lot. I'll give it a go in lith sometime even though the exposures are going to be silly long for that! You should put it on ebay for sure, some mug like me will snap it up!

 

[Jarvman]

I wish people would refrain from referring to paper I used not so very long ago as "antique."

ok, fossilised