Kallitype beginner looking for a good book

rince

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Hi,

I am new to alternative processes and while having done a few cyanotypes a few years ago, have not tried alternative processes. I recently saw some gorgeous Kallitypes and would like to give the process a try. Can you recommend a good book about the process?

Thanks in advance
Dennis
 

andreios

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Honestly, I don't know if any good book only on kallitype exists.. they are of course mentioned in all the usual suspects - Ch. James alt process books and many older ones... But I think save the money you'd spend on books and buy some paper, read what Wolfgang Moersch has written on this subject on his website and practice and play..
 
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rince

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Thank you. I will give it a shot then and maybe start out with the kit W.Moersch is offering. Would you have an advice on paper worth trying out?
 

andreios

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I'd say start with Bergger Cot 320 - Wolfgang has it in his shop as well. It is a good and reliable paper that can be used without any prior treatment (sizing, acidifying).
 
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rince

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andreios said:
I'd say start with Bergger Cot 320 - Wolfgang has it in his shop as well. It is a good and reliable paper that can be used without any prior treatment (sizing, acidifying).
Click to expand...

Thanks again! I will head over to the website and order paper and kit and see if I get any results
 

andreios

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Good luck! If you have any questions ask here, or even better, just drop a line to Wolfgang. He's always very helpful. And don't hesitate to start toning the prints - it gets better and better with various toners.
Some say that un-toned kallitypes are not stable enough. I don't know, my knowledge of chemistry is very basic. But for a start you may add wolfgang's MT14 selenium toner that he designed specially for kallitypes and similar printing techniques - very cheap and makes nice prints.

Next steps once you get the basics right should be gold and palladium
 
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rince

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andreios said:
Next steps once you get the basics right should be gold and palladium
Click to expand...

Something tells me getting the basics 'right' might proof a bit of a challenge, but I am looking forward to it! Again, thank you for your fast reply and for 'pushing me over the edge'. I placed the order and am excited to get started.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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I do mostly carbon transfer printing, but I also do kallitypes. My favourite paper is Rising Stonehenge, but it needs to be acidified, first. It's cheap and easy to source. I highly recommend acidifying your paper in sulfamic acid. You will find a huge increase in dmax. For developer I swing between sodium citrate, or my own brew consisting of vinegar, baking soda and tartaric acid (cool tone). How is your tap water?
 
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rince

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Thank you for the advice Andrew. My tap water has quite high hardness levels, otherwise hopefully will be fine. I read that people advice to use at least filtered water, better distilled water. For now I ordered a complete kit which will come with sodium citrate as a developer. We will see if I manage to get an image looking forward to trying to acidify the paper to raise dmax and see the difference.. Am I correct to assume, that I only have to soak the paper in sulfamic acid and dry it before sensitizing? Sorry if that should be obvious.





Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk
 

Andrew O'Neill

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Mix up a 10% sulfamic acid bath, as recommended by Serdar Bilici. I soak paper in it for 10 minutes, followed by a thorough wash.
Sounds like your water will be fine. My water is soft here, and tends to be more alkaline. When I rinse the print after development, I put a pinch of citric acid in the rinse water (a large bucket of rinse water).
Be careful not to leave print in the clearing bath (citric acid bath) for too long. Mine only goes in for a minute, with constant agitation.
For fixing I mix up my own. 750ml water, 25g sodium thiosulfate anhydrous (if pentahydrate crystals, use 50g), 50ml household ammonia. Add water to make a litre. One minute fix.
After clearing the print in citric acid bath, the print will appear slightly anemic. When you hit the print with the fix, you will see an instantaneous increase of dmax.
Be sure to do a min time max black test to nail down your exposure time.
 

Bruce

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Rince

You might want to read Sandy King's article on Kallitypes.

See his article in Unblinking Eye
http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/kallitype/kallitype.html

For paper , I have been using Portofino HP that I purchased from Dick Blick.

I don't have the experience that Andrew has but I like what I have been able to do so far.

Get one of the Christopher James books (he has a new one coming out soon), and Christiana Anderson's book on "Gum printing and Other Amazing Contact printing Processes"
 

Bruce

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Andrew

Where did you find out about acidifying the Stonehenge Rising paper? I have some of this paper but have not tried it as yet since I am still learning the process and am using some Portofino HP paper.

Also, how did you determine the time for the clearing bath? I have read that some folks use 5 minutes in 2 separate clearing baths.

Any comments would be appreciated.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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I used to put oxalic acid directly into the sensitizer and that helped dmax, but sometimes led to spotty, uneven toned images. Then I read somewhere that acidifying paper helps. I started with citric acid, then tried sulfamic acid after reading Serdar's test results.
I tried Stonehenge because that was the paper that I had been using. I've also acidified Arches 88 and Lana Aquarelle, which were greatly improved after the acid bath.

Here is the link to Serdar's tests: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)


As far as clearing bath goes, I found that if I left the paper in the bath for extended periods of time, it impacted on dark tones. For me that was around 3 minutes. To my eye, the print was completely cleared by one minute. A bit of citric acid in my rinse water aided in faster clearing. No citric acid, then much longer clearing time... at least for me, anyway.

The sensitizer dries to a very light shade on acidified paper. Sensitizer on Stonehenge that has not been acidified has a more yellowy/orange look... and maybe why it takes longer to clear. One would think that acidified paper clears faster, too.
 

adelorenzo

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This is interesting information. I use Rising Stonehenge and haven't been happy with my kallitypes, I may try acidifying the paper.

I don't have access to sulfamic acid, so I may start with citric acid. Andrew any suggestions on what % solution you tried?
 

Andrew O'Neill

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Huge improvements after acidifying. I use a 10% solution. If you have a decent hardware store up there, you should be able to buy ceramic tile cleaner. It'll say right on it, sulfamic acid.http://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Building-Products-TileLab-1-lb-Sulfamic-Acid-Cleaner-TLSAC1/100171510

If you cannot source it, then citric acid will do the trick. I've even heard of people using vinegar.. I think sulfamic acid is more volatile, so you may need a higher percentage of citric acid than 10%...but I could be wrong. Start at 10% and see what happens. I acidified in a 1% bath of sulfamic acid in the beginning and it worked. 10% allows you to do more sheets at once.
 

Bruce

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Andrew

Thanks for the information. When I get back to making Kallitype printsI will try your recommendations.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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I've also acidified Arches 88 and Lana Aquarelle, which were greatly improved after the acid bath.
Click to expand...

Apologies! I just checked my notes and it was Arches Platine that I acidified and liked. Arches 88 is a very bad candidate for acidifying. It turned pulpy in the bath, ruining its surface. The long water wash didn't help either. When I went to sensitize the paper to make a print, the solution puddled in the middle and literally went right through to the backside!
 

pschwart

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Arches 88 is unsized (waterleaf), so unable to withstand a water bath.
 

Bruce

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Andrew

So have you used Stonehenge Rising for Kallitpe prints and did you acidify the paper?
 

Andrew O'Neill

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I made a print last night on Rising Stonehenge (250gsm, white) that had previously been soaked in 10% sulfamic acid. When I was sensitizing it (foam brush), the paper's surface was disturbed slightly. When the paper dried, I could see many small bits of paper balled up on the surface. These easily brushed off with my finger. I made the exposure and processed. All looks good. I must say that I have never seen this before with this paper. This is a new batch that I picked up about 6 months ago and have not used until now. Something has changed with the paper. Perhaps it is not as sized as it once was?
From now on with this paper, I will either use the puddle pusher to sensitize, or my soft hair brush.
 

captainscot

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I started kallitypes a few months ago with Arches platine toning in either gold or platinum, i have gotten a few good ones and alot not so good. I didnt think that platine needed a pretreatment so i never thought about doing it, but after Andrews previous posts about sulfamic acid i thought i would give it a try...and i was amazed at the difference in the blacks...i am not good at math so i am not sure how 10% works out to be, but i used 10 grams of sulfamic acid to 1000 ml of water, let it soak for 10 min. then washed for 5mins and hung to dry...i dont use tween when i coat, but brush on 40 drops of distilled water and let it air dry for 10 mins before i coat with a brush, would it be beneficial to acidify the 40 drops with citric acid?
 

Herzeleid

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Captainscot,

%10 solution of SA is 100gr of sulfamic acid dissolved in enough water (let's say 800ml) and then the final volume is adjusted to 1000ml. 10grams in 1 litres is approximately %1 solution.

The period of treatment in SA solutions depends on the paper. You should visually observe the end of acid-base reaction and give it %50 extra duration to be on the safe side.
 
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