First "finished" fibre prints

[johnnywalker]

I've made some prints before on fb paper, but something has always gone wrong, and they didn't turn out the way I wanted. Finally, I have two prints that are what I had hoped they would be. The selenium toning finally worked the way it should (nice plummy tones, deep blacks), and I got the prints to dry flat. The toning is subtle enough that it doesn't jump out at you until you put it next to an untoned print.
The toning worked this time (I think) because I used hypo bath and a long wash. Basically followed the directions in Tim Rudman's toning book. The flatness was achieved by getting most of the water off with a squeegee then taping the prints to glass using butcher's tape (brown paper tape), a method I read about here some time ago. I let them dry overnight and it worked perfectly. I still have some brown paper on the edges of the print, but will not be visible if I mat the prints.
The prints themselves won't win any prizes, but at least I now know how to make a nicely toned flat fibre print when I finally get around to shooting masterpieces - which will be any day now, I'm sure.

 

[Blighty]

Never thought of taping them to a sheet of glass. I usually peg my prints back to back and then press 'em flat when they're dry. Might give your method a try. As for selenium toning, I usually get a (massive) backlog of prints and tone them all in one go. I've run out of paper at the moment - RC and FB - not a single sheet left, so I'm going to crack on with the bleaching, toning and spotting, in that order. Glad your prints turned out the way you wanted them! Regards, Blights

 

[Richjsn1]

Intersting idea on using tape. What type of FB paper did you use? I just ran out and with the changes in the market I have to search for a new paper here in the midwest.

 

[Garry Madlung]

Nice Idea with the tape. I might try it. Are you going to get any adhesive from the tape seeping into the paper though? I use the window screen sandwich method. That gets them flat enough to mount.

After my first fibre based print I never went back to RC.

 

[johnnywalker]

I used Kentmere VC glossy double weight. I like it very much but don't have a lot of experience with different papers. The price is right.

Re the glue seeping through, I hadn't thought of it. But I'm sure it's the same tape artists and photographers have used for a long time to tape the back of the frames. I know watercolourists use it to keep their paper flat.

I got the idea from an earlier thread on APUG, and the fellow who described it has used it for years, IIRC.