First Fibre Print

I went mad and tried my hand at printing on Fibre based paper, I felt more nervous than the first time I loaded a film onto a spiral, what would I screw up ? I'm sure you know the feeling. As it happened my order had been screwed up by the supplier and I had warmtone paper but decided to go with it anyway.

I actually really enjoyed the experience, the print took ages to appear and handling the floppy fibre paper was really strange but it seemed to go OK and a half decent image was produced. Washing was a challenge, I utilised a large bucket with a steady flow of water going in for an hour, seemed to work.
My wife says it looks a bit 'crumpled' :rolleyes: but I am storing it between mounting boards for a bit.

It's also the biggest print I've ever done at 91/2 x 12, I used to think 5 x 7 was big !

Anyone who feels a bit intimidated by the magic of fibre (like I was) really should give it a go, wonderful fun and if it screws up - what's £10 in this hobby ?

BTW the print is at (there was a url link here which no longer exists) if you want to look.

Cheers CJB

[QUOTES=digiconvert;378749]
"...the print took ages to appear and handling the
floppy fibre paper was really strange..."

Keep track of those "appear" times. They are a gage
of your developer's activity. They will vary from paper
to paper and with changes in developer. The official
word, IIRC, is induction time.

I prefer the handling of FB over RC; not nearly so
stiff. I believe it's Cesco that makes trays just for
the easier handling of RC. I work bare handed.

"Washing was a challenge ..."

Follow the fix with a rinse then 3 to 5 minutes in hca.
Agitate intermittently. Afterwards hold all prints in water
ready for the wash sequence.

Use two trays for washing. Move from holding to first
wash. Leaf through ever few minutes then move to the
second tray with it's fresh water. At this point the fixer
is slowly diffusing out of the paper and emulsion. I'd
allow for two more soaks. Each succeeding soak
is to be longer. So, 10, 30, 60, minutes then
as much as over night.

My variation of the two tray soak-wash includes
hydrophobic sheet separators; thin non-woven polyester
fabric. I do no agitating. I call it the Still Water Diffusion
Wash. Very little water is required and the time involved
is minimal. Dan

Dan, I think that you can wash too long, at least with some papers. The method that goes around quite a bit is a series of 5 minutes soaks in trays adding up to a total of 30 minutes total for rapid fixers, and 60 minutes total for non-rapid fixers. I'm no expert, but if you search for wash times in the archives, you'll get a butt load of info. For what it's worth, I use TF-4 and do a total of six five minute soaks, without HCA bath, and it passes the chemical residual fixer test. The soaks are one print per tray, with a complete dump and fill each 5 minutes.

- Randy

Dan,
where do you source your sheet separators? I could really do with some of those.

Nice print CJB, it would look even better on a neutral or cooltone paper though

Matt.

Nice picture! For some reason, I think it is much more fun using fb-paper. Now I only use RC when working with my 5 year old doughter. (We copied a picture together this weekend. Now she want her own camera...)

I must say I don't regret buying an archive washer. It really makes things easier. For drying, I hang the pictures with clothes pins and when they are almost dry, I put them between the papers in a large sketch book and place heavy books on the prints for a couple of days. Then they are flat ennough.

/matti

Congratulations. You can now delegate all that RC to the role of contact prints.
Image appearance is not necessarily related to developer. Different papers work differently in the same developer. Forte papers are generally much slower appearing than an Ilford paper. Some developers are just slower working. Some warm tone developers will process the image more slowly due to the amount of restrainer in the developer.

reellis67 said:

For what it's worth, I use TF-4 and do a total of six five
minute soaks, without HCA bath, and it passes the chemical
residual fixer test. The soaks are one print per tray, with a
complete dump and fill each 5 minutes. Randy

Click to expand...

The residual hypo test; the HT-2 test for remaining
thiosulfate. That test to approach archival levels must
show NO stain.

Your method is not efficient. As the level of fixer in a print
declines the time needed for diffusion of the remaining portion
increases. Of course a concentration gradient is required if
the fixer is to move from paper and emulsion to the wash
water. The really minute levels of fixer left after a rinse,
hca, rinse, and first soak or two, do resist and are slow
to remove. The latter soaks are removing little more
than traces of what over decades could be
harmful levels of thiosulfate.

Even with the little water I use those residual amounts
of hypo diffuse slowly into a relatively large volume of water.
A concentration gradient is maintained. I think those that
use several same time soaks are concerned with the
loss of the concentration gradient and fear that
equilibrium or near is soon reached.

It could be I allow more time than necessary. I'm in no
hurry. My prints sit unmoved. I like them to be ready for
their last soak in late evening. That last soak has been
as much as 16 hours. I should also mention that my
method uses a very minimum of water. Dan

Mattg said:

Dan, where do you source your sheet separators?
I could really do with some of those. Matt.

Click to expand...

Any fabric store will have it. I think it is used as a lining
material. I was using a more bulky loosely put together batting
material which spaced more and had a tendency to trap a few
small air bubbles. They had to be fussed out. Not a problem
with the new material.

Water runs right out of these hydrophobic materials. A tray
with prints can be dumped and the stack by hand squeezed
damp dry. Peel the stack apart and layer by layer build
it in the other wash tray. Add water as it builds.

I used up the last of what I had on hand. I need more
so will stop by the store today and pin down two or three
examples of what will likely work well. Five bucks ought
to do you a half dozen or so 16x20s. Dan

Thanks Dan, let us know what they call it at the haberdasher.
It sounds like the stuff my board shorts are made of, they are bone dry 5 minutes after I get out of the surf. I'll just have to find the non-woven stuff.

Mattg said:

Thanks Dan, let us know what they call it at the haberdasher.
It sounds like the stuff my board shorts are made of, they are
bone dry 5 minutes after I get out of the surf. I'll just have to
find the non-woven stuff.

Click to expand...

IIRC the girl at the counter called it interfacing. It's used for
collars, cuffs, any where some extra body is called for. Pellon
is a brand of which they must have 20 to 30 variations.

By brand or function you'll likely have quite a selection.
For greatest permeability chose one or two of them that
are less dense. For a reasonable amount of water twixt
prints chose those that are most thick. I use templets
for cutting to size. Cut to fit tray.

Over the next two to three weeks I'll retest earlier results.
I've now two versions of the HT-2 test to use when checking
for residual hypo. The recent non-substantive change I
made in separator material may effect results.
Although diffusion is at the molecular level
permeability may have changed. Dan