how important are these steps for bromoil process?

[toguko]

From your experience how important are these following things?
1. contrast for the print - would you get good results from very contrasty prints?
2. type of the developer for the print - is dektol ok or special one has to be made?
3. dilution of the developer for the print - do you need to dilute a lot or a standard 1:2/1:3 dilution of the developer is ok? (if dektol used)
4. stop bath for the print - can you use the standard kodak stop or just water?
5. fixer for print - is kodak rapid fix without hardener ok or you need hypo?
6. drying the print - do you need to dry the print before bleaching (if yes, does it have to be super-dried?) or can you just put it wet straight after washing into bleach?
7. fixing the matrix - again hypo or kodak rapid fixer (without hardener)?
8. drying the matrix - how important is the super-dry vs just normal dry-ishness?
9. type of ink used - does it have to be litho ink like graphic 1796 or just any fat, oil based printing ink will do?
10. photographic papers - I know that certain papers specially made for bromoil work the best but would almost any photographic paper work more or less?

I found some mixed information on these steps hence the questions.
For example this article here:
http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/bromoils/making-a-bromoil-print
is pretty laid-back but the 'Bromoil and transfer' by Whalley seems much more strict.

 

[Neil Souch]

From my experience, which is as a newbie to Bromoils, but I have made a few lately trying to get a reasonable set to show, the best thing to do is to follow the advice given from the accomplished practitioners. Then only change anything if you feel the need to experiment. This a difficult process to learn and the last thing you need to do is to introduce items that will probably give you a head ache.

Fortunately, Bromoilest give out advice freely and if you search the net you will find many of them, with examples of their work, and usually good technical details on how they made their images.

Interestingly if you compare the methods used usually you will find, although their images will be all different, the technical side is closely the same, and also close to how Bromoils were made many years ago. The only thing that seems to change is the paper used – a none super-coated paper is more or less essential.

If you have a go at Bromoils Slavich Unibrom Matt is currently about the best paper you can use.

Neil.