Cyanotype Chemicals - Jacquard

[sephseph]

Hi all, first post here

I've been using the cyanotype process for about a year with varying success - mainly through buying the raw chemicals (Ferric ammonium citrate and potasium ferricyanide, as well as the fotospeed "new process" emulsion).

I recently tried the Jacquard cyanotype kit, the one that comes in two bottles to which you add water and mix together (it was a bit cheaper so I thought why not...), however this seemed to be far inferior - prints didn't either expose very well or overexposed.

Has anybody else had a similar experience or did I just get a bad batch?

 

[nmp]

prints didn't either expose very well or overexposed.

Has anybody else had a similar experience or did I just get a bad batch?

Welcome to Photrio!

What do you mean by "expose very well" - underexposed? If you used the same bottles and same amounts - prints should be either one or the other, not some underexposed and some overexposed. May be something else is going on. More clarity is needed.

I started my cyanotype-making with Jacquard's (I bought raw powders, not a kit) as well. It worked fine performance-wise, but after a while I noticed that the FAC had some undissolved particles that gave me defects on the prints. So I switched over to one supplied by Artcraft Chemicals here in the US. That one dissolves much easier and is very clear with no particles. Speed seems to be in the same ballpark, though. But you would still need to re-calibrate your process, - like minimum time for Dmax etc when you start a new source for FAC. FAC is a poorly defined chemical so the final property can be materially different depending on how it was made. Potasium ferricyanide on the other hand is very well defined crystalline compound, so it is les likely to be different from supplier to supplier, as long as it is of reasonable purity.

:Niranjan.

 

[Daniela]

Welcome!
I've been using the Jacquard kit for years and I've had great results; even with 3 year old chemistry, which according to the package should not be done. I started noticing that it underperforms only when the UV index is low. I have finally bought a new kit, but I keep using what's left of the old one for experimenting. By the way, I have prepped papers for 3 workshops and I still have a lot left! To be fair, I have only used this kit, so I can't really compare it to anything else, but I've always been happy with the results. Here's an example of how expired chemistry performs: