Kallitype Printing Out

[Philip Walton]

I recently started printing Kallitypes after having good success with Van Dykes. I cannot get Ferric Oxalate here in Kenya so I ended up making my own following Dick Stevens #2 method with a ferrous oxalate intermediate that is oxadised with H2O2 and oxalic acid. Needless to say it was a pain but I got an amber clear liquid that passed the test for both too much ferrous and too much oxalic acid. Used a standard emulsion mix per SK and everything coats great. Pyrocat HD negatives and sun exposure (Nairobi has great UV).

At the end of 5 min in direct sunlight I had an image that looked as printed out as a VDB. I developed in Sodium Citrate and, if anything, the developer lightened the print. I took the prints through the remainder of the workflow including toning with gold and ended up with really mediocre prints. I have tried remixing developer and adding citric acid. It really just feels more like a VDB than anything I’ve seen of videos on Kallitype printing.

I know I could stick with VDB but I really want the flexibility of controlling contrast and hopefully getting longer highlights.

The lighter image is immediately after exposure and the darker picture is after processing. Ignore the damage in the middle of the frame. I’m just not seeing any kind of developing.

What would cause a Kallitype to fully print out?

 

[Philip Walton]

I am going to answer my own question. The issue was the alkalinity of the paper. I can only get access to a couple of watercolour papers here and a Canson Bristol XL is the one that has performed the best. I never had any issue with VDB but clearly it is an issue for Kallitypes.

I soaked in a 1% oxalic acid bath for 10 minutes and then allowed to dry. I coated and proceeded as normal. I am now seeing a “stage whisper” after exposure and my developer performs as expected.

I never expected that the paper could cause the sensitiser you start developing itself while still being exposed. Love and learn.

 

[aldus_manutius]

I'd say your second effort was certainly on target! Great tonality... my experience suggests that paper can definitely be a factor... couldn't say for sure if the alkalinity is actually causing it to develop; more like, the coating isn't really taking. Can you get any of the Hahnemühle papers there? Not necessarily the Hahnemühle Platinum Rag, but the Bamboo Mixed Media 265/gm works quite nicely with kallitypes (and argyrotypes, too!). Doesn't require any pre-treatmen before sensitizing.

 

[nmp]

If you leave out the ferric oxalate and just brush on the silver nitrate to your un-acidified paper, what do you get on exposure?

In your second post, the second photo - why is tone on the outside border different (warmer) than the picture itself or is it?

Nice image....welcome to the forum, by the way.

:Niranjan.

 

[Philip Walton]

Niranjan,

I would really love to know why it developed with dual tones. It was a sodium acetate developer so everywhere the negative controlled exposure it was a cool tone and everywhere that the sensitiser was exposed outside the negative it stayed very warm. I assume it was some type of solarisation but I really don’t know. It was cool but not something I would try and recreate. As you can see, the gold toning in the last photo sorted it all out.

 

[nmp]

Niranjan,

I would really love to know why it developed with dual tones. It was a sodium acetate developer so everywhere the negative controlled exposure it was a cool tone and everywhere that the sensitiser was exposed outside the negative it stayed very warm. I assume it was some type of solarisation but I really don’t know. It was cool but not something I would try and recreate. As you can see, the gold toning in the last photo sorted it all out.

Yeah, gold toning did equalize the tone everywhere - with a nice Dmax and very neutral black.

The reason I asked about the plain silver coating on paper is that it would produce saltprint-like image even if there was no external salt added - silver nitrate converted to silver carbonate in reaction with chalk in the paper which is photosensitive. So in essence, there might be a contribution from photo-reduction of silver carbonate to silver (which is a print-out process) to the overall image in presence of the commonly used buffering agent.

:Niranjan.

 

[Philip Walton]

Niranjan,

To close this out, I did the silver nitrate test and you were correct, an image was formed.

Thank you for your insight on this. Now I have another weapon in the arsenal of troubleshooting prints. As always, we live and learn.

Cheers!

 

[nmp]

Niranjan,

To close this out, I did the silver nitrate test and you were correct, an image was formed.

Thank you for your insight on this. Now I have another weapon in the arsenal of troubleshooting prints. As always, we live and learn.

Cheers!

Thanks Philip for the update. You also gave me an idea for a good paper candidate for my salt-free salt print project (moth-balled at present) as described here:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/salt-free-salt-print-toned-with-himalayan-black-salt.155417/

I do have a question also. After the oxalic acid treatment, did you notice any change in the grain structure on the print. There are reports that suggest the surface becomes quite coarse due to formation of the insoluble calcium oxalate crystals Any observations in this regard?

Good luck and do share any new work if you can.

:Niiranjan.

 

[Philip Walton]

Niiranjan,

I have not noticed that the surface is coarse but I am finding my midtones are pretty grainy. I’m not sure if that is an effect from the acid treatment (I also tried citric acid) or something else in my process. I though I might be overcoating the sensitiser but my testing in that direction has been inconclusive (it appears to work sometimes).

While I am getting pretty decent final prints, my intermediate stages seem very weird to me. After development the print looks like there is tone reversal in the shadows. Then everything sorts itself out during toning (Clerc’s Gold). From everything I’ve read and seen, I would have thought the untoned print should look decent enough that some people don’t want to tone. Mine look like dog barf. Is this normal or am I still dealing with issues with my paper? Flights are opening up in Kenya at the beginning of August so I am hoping to get some better paper soon.

I’m including images of a test negative after exposure, after developing, and after toning. I am following SK’s processing steps quite closely.

Cheers,

Philip

 

[nmp]

Niiranjan,

I have not noticed that the surface is coarse but I am finding my midtones are pretty grainy. I’m not sure if that is an effect from the acid treatment (I also tried citric acid) or something else in my process. I though I might be overcoating the sensitiser but my testing in that direction has been inconclusive (it appears to work sometimes).

While I am getting pretty decent final prints, my intermediate stages seem very weird to me. After development the print looks like there is tone reversal in the shadows. Then everything sorts itself out during toning (Clerc’s Gold). From everything I’ve read and seen, I would have thought the untoned print should look decent enough that some people don’t want to tone. Mine look like dog barf. Is this normal or am I still dealing with issues with my paper? Flights are opening up in Kenya at the beginning of August so I am hoping to get some better paper soon.

I’m including images of a test negative after exposure, after developing, and after toning. I am following SK’s processing steps quite closely.

Cheers,

Philip

Thanks for the update on oxalic acid treatment.

Hopefully someone with a lot more direct kallitype experience than I will chime in here. (Unfortunately SK does not check in here any more....)

I can see the tone reversal in the post-develop print (3rd of the group) - nicely evident in the circular patterns. Is this a digital negative? I thought you were using an in-camera one. It looks like in the mid-tone area of the step-wedge, there might be some "bronzing" going on as well. All of that wonderfully disappears after toning, resulting in a perfect-looking step-wedge pattern (not a bad problem to have.) A lot of times, bronzing is associated with too much sensitizer or puddling. Apparently, it might be a thing in kallitypes as it is particularly mentioned in Christopher James' book and he corroborates your experience:

"In kallitypes, toning will often take care of the problem." (2nd edition, p 295)

I take it that you are doing the toning right after develop/rinse so the photo is of a wet print. Perhaps fixing (absent toning) and drying might change the tonal relationship somewhat. It might also darken the print, making it look more like what you might expect in an un-toned print.

Just some general thoughts....

: Niranjan.