Archival fiber printing on a hair-string budget

Yes, hair-string is smaller than shoe-string. I am running out of my box of MGIV, an have a nice little 25 pack of MGFB waiting, courtesy of my father. I am excited to use fiber paper for the first time, but I have some concerns. One is that I don't even have a tray siphon to wash the prints in. I am thinking about just putting one at a time in a tray and having the bathtub tap run water over it. I will also use Ilford's Wash Aid. Any technique suggestions or better ideas? Also, for drying the prints flat, I am thinking about using a cloth to absorb the initial wetness, then placing the print between to pieces of matboard and ironing it with a clothes iron. Would it be better to dry the print out further before ironing it? Thanks again!

- Justin

Your "limitations" are very similar to how i've processed all my prints until very, very recently. except that I place the prints, 10 at a time, in a tray and have the bathtub tap run water over them. i shuffle the prints a coulple of times during washing, though...

Wipe front and back with a car windscreen wiper, leave to air dry until half dry (just before they start curling, then iron dry and flat between matboards. or kitchen towels...

I don't think I've ever used any kind of wash aid though - I use alkaline to neutral fix, so the need is a lot less.

Do a search of this forum on "print washing." There is a widely-used technique of soaking the prints in a tray for a certain period, empty and refill the tray, soak some more, and repeat 4 or 5 times. Since I use a print washer I don't have the details, but the soak and dump will work a lot better than the bathtub. I also would not iron or do anything with wet prints - the emulsion is a bit fragile. My suggestion is either the "classic" dry them on some screens, or the least equipment approach: hang them from a clothes line in pairs, emulsion side out, with clothes pins at the four corners. Since they will "curl against each other" they will be "somewhat flat" and when they are dry, you can use your iron and mattboard approach.
P.S> Just saw Ole's reply - since he is far more experienced than I, discount my concerns with your own suggested approach, just consider mine another set of options.

Hi Justin,
I have used the tray method myself. I would either put a single print in the tray for 45 min, or for multiple prints, I'd sit there and shuffle them continously for 45 min. I have also used this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...230&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
which worked quite well.

Don't waste water! You can easily have 10 or so prints in a deep tray of some description, and let them sit for 10 mins at a time between water changes. Just try to shuffle as much as you can (within reason - and between water changes is fine) - I'd aim for about 6-10 water changes for a really well-washed print.

Here's a thread about hand washing FB: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Look up about using an alkaline process, as Ole said. That makes washing a lot easier. Drying and flattening is not such a big deal. Hanging prints from clothespins and when they're dry laying them out under stacks of books works fine.

Sparky said:

Don't waste water!

Click to expand...

Or time. For more than one print I use two trays
and a set of hydrophobic separator sheets. No need
to hover over a tray shuffling.

After a fix or fixes and perhaps a rinse-hac-rinse sequence
the wash routine can begin. Place a separator on tray bottom,
add some water, place print, top with another separator and
more water. The stack builds in that manor. Alway be sure
a top separator is in place with enough water to cover.

After some time has lapsed drain the tray using some hand
pressure. Peel off separators and prints transferring to a second
tray. Build in the same manor as the first tray. A third and forth
transfer will likely yield very clean prints. I've over-nighted on
the last wash and had no problems.

I think it a good idea to pre-wet the separator sheets. When
laying them on the prints watch out for entrained air. I maintain
a supply of jugged room temperature water so have little problem
with entrained air. A variety of separator material is available at any
fabric store and is known as interfacing. Costs nearly nothing.
Easy shoe string.

Like them dry and flat in one operation? Then search APUG for;
corrugated board . The thread Salthill has a few suppliers listed.
The corrugated board stack dryer also uses the separator sheets.
The corrugated will run about $15 with S&H. It is a special board
made for drying flat sheet materials. Dan