Caffenol Printing Paper Suggestions

[ccross]

Hello all,

I've been experimenting with caffenol-c printing. I bought a large box of misc papers from a guy getting rid of his darkroom to experiment with. I found one in the box that responded quite well to caffenol, giving a nice light sepia colour to the highlights, but still nice, rich blacks.

Unfortunately the paper was in a box (Kodak Polycontrast III RC) with a handful of other paper, so I'm not sure what the paper is. I'm pretty sure that paper is long gone and I won't be able to find it any more, so I'm looking for suggestions from the Apug world of others that respond well to caffenol.

Thanks,
Craig

 

[musila]

i actually used Kodak Polycontrast III RC with coffee and it works really well. Arista's EDU FB glossy on the other hand did not.

 

[Ironage]

If I remember correctly, the old Kodak RC papers actually had developing agents built into the emulsion. If you are using these papers, the coffee will not be the primary developing agent. There use to be a stabilization process that was nothing other than adding a liquid acid or base (not sure which) and the paper developed itself in seconds. Sorry I can't be more specific about the details but I haven't used the stabilization process since the early 80's.

 

[Toffle]

Depending on what kind of effect you are trying to achieve, there are some really good papers out there. For really smooth results, Ilford WT Glossy is very good. For bizarre swirls and unpredictablel development Kodak Polymax is really fun. Just keep trying papers, and don't give up too easily. Papers without an integral developer can take a really long time to fully develop, but can give some really good results.

Glad to hear there are a few more people printing with Caffenol. Despite the smell, it is a really interesting way to print.
Cheers,