Kallitype Issues

[SMBooth]

New to Kallitype but Ive had an issue with the highlights and low range grey tones washing out in final wash.
Im using Fabriano Artistico Hot Press which has been acidified in Sulphamic Acid & washed, exposure time 2 min under 6x15 watt BL tubes. Development using Sodium Acetate/Tartaric Acid developer. The developed print looks great, I then cleared in 2 baths of Citric Acid for 4 min or so (the paper still didnt clear fully). I followed with a 60 sec wash then gold tone in Tetenal Gold Toner for a 1 min or so to cool the image tone down, still the print looked good, then fixed as recommended and straight into print wash without final hypo clear intending to give long wash. I checked print after 1/2 or so and noticed the highlight fading along with the low end grey scale. This is the first time Ive used the Gold toner for Kallitype, none of my test wedge have done this.

I looking at several reasons here
1/ it didnt clear fully so the print kept clearing during the final wash - proberly need to change paper
2/ the gold toner is contaminated, could be had it a while and used it for regular silver gel print toning
3/ to short of exposure - highlight have not had a chance to react fully - ???

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I acidify only papers that need it, such as Stonehenge. Some papers do not need it, and I believe Fabricano is one of them. I tried it years ago and it printed beautifully without acidifying. The same with Lana Aquarelle and Arches Platine. I'm not sure though, if this is the issue, though. The example print on the left is fine. The toned example on the right isn't. Hmmm.... bad toner? Personally, I do not tone. I like the look of the untoned print. I only develop in sodium citrate. I always had problems with acetate/tartaric acid developers. I could see a lot of the metals leaching out at the start of development, and more so when fixing. What fixer do you use? I like a very simple fixer: sodium thiosulfate and ammonia. One minute.
If you cannot clear your paper after 4 minutes in citric acid, there may be a problem with your tap water. After development, rinsing with tap water that is too alkaline can cause insufficient clearing. I fill a large bucket with water and sprinkle in a wee bit of citric acid to acidify it. I rinse the print this way. It helped significantly.
Or... it could all just be bad toner.
Or... you could give more exposure. But... by clearing, fixing then toning, there shouldn't be any loss of highlights.

 

[SMBooth]

Thanks Andrew,
I go straight from developer to clearing bath. So the water should be fine. That said Ive just done some more tests and even without toning the highlight wash out in the wash bath over time.

My fixer is 50gr Hypo, 10gr Sodium Carbonate and 2 gr sodium sulfite. Should be fine as was fresh.

Got some Cot32 now so will see if that changes things and I'll just use simple Citrate developer with it.
The Fabricano without acidifation was quite grainy, the acid bath seem to smooth it out nicely.

Thanks

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I think you will be happy with sodium citrate. Since you are gold toning, there really is no point of using a acetate developer. Sodium citrate with a little bit of replenishing seems to go on and on.. and it's economical, at least for me up here in Canada.

 

[SMBooth]

Changing to a Sodium Citrate developer did not stop the bleaching in wash, but changing from one batch of Ferric Oxate to another (different supplier) has stopped it. I didn't mix the sensitiser but have found out that it was heated to 90degC, so it may of started to decompose.....

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

That's probably it. I am very careful not to exceed 67C when dissolving FO. FO from B&S is very good quality and goes into solution very nicely. FO from another supplier works okay but I have to work really hard with repeated heatings to get it into solution. Still works fine, though.

 

[davido]

Changing to a Sodium Citrate developer did not stop the bleaching in wash, but changing from one batch of Ferric Oxate to another (different supplier) has stopped it. I didn't mix the sensitiser but have found out that it was heated to 90degC, so it may of started to decompose.....

I had a different (but quite common) problem for a long time of buffed whites in my kallitype prints. I tried everything. A while back I stopped heating the distilled water into which I added the ferric oxalate. I had noticed that Sandy King and others didn't mention heating the water in their instructions. I had bought a used magnetic stirrer (which are fantastic) and decided to try mixing with room temp water. It still took a long time (around 4-5 hours). I'm still not positive why buffed white stopped but the miraculous change of events started just after I stopped heating the ferric oxalate water.
I had read that excessive heating can lead to decay of the ferric oxalate but perhaps any heating can initiate (event in a small way) the decay into ferrous oxalate?
I also use B&S Ferric Oxalate.

David

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Very interesting. Thanks, David.

 

[SMBooth]

That's a interesting tipbit David. I now have some of the Ferric Oxalate powder that the suspect solution was made from, I'll mix it at room temp and see if it preforms better.