Kallitype Rescue ala Chad Jarvis

[mikepry]

Here's a great formula given to me by Chad Jarvis (www.redhillphoto.com) for bringing a not quite bright enough kallitype back to life. The highlights lighten up well but what really impressed me is how the mid-tones opened up.

10ml of a 10% working solution of Farmers Reducer
25ml of hypo (same as for when printing the kallitypes)
1 litre water

5-10 minutes in this is usually sufficient.

 

[sanking]

Here's a great formula given to me by Chad Jarvis (www.redhillphoto.com) for bringing a not quite bright enough kallitype back to life. The highlights lighten up well but what really impressed me is how the mid-tones opened up.

10ml of a 10% working solution of Farmers Reducer
25ml of hypo (same as for when printing the kallitypes)
1 litre water

5-10 minutes in this is usually sufficient.

Are you using this technique with toned or untoned prints?

I tone all of my prints with palladium or platinum and and this procedure would not be very effective since most of the silver has been replaced or coated with palladium or platinum, which won't bleach.

Sandy

 

[mikepry]

Sandy,
I toned with the Gold Toner Formula #2 that you have listed in your most excellent article and maybe that's why it bleached down. I will be using the Palladium in the near future so I sure will keep your information in mind. Like I said it wasn't a huge differance in the highlights but boy did the midtones open up. I had never printed on the Berrger Cot320 and it has a most significant dry down factor...hence my darker than I wanted prints.

 

[Ole]

Most silver-bearing contact-print versions can be bleached just as effectively - but somewhat slower and thus (IMO) safer in very dilute rapid fixer. Opens up the midtones without losing highlight detail. Works great on POP and van Dykes, at least.

 

[Jorge]

Most silver-bearing contact-print versions can be bleached just as effectively - but somewhat slower and thus (IMO) safer in very dilute rapid fixer. Opens up the midtones without losing highlight detail. Works great on POP and van Dykes, at least.

I tried my hand at satista and did as Ole suggests. I had made the print too dark and the belaching with rapid fixer worked really good.

 

[sanking]

Most silver-bearing contact-print versions can be bleached just as effectively - but somewhat slower and thus (IMO) safer in very dilute rapid fixer. Opens up the midtones without losing highlight detail. Works great on POP and van Dykes, at least.

The concern I would have about this for kallitype is the fact that it works. What I try to achieve in toning is a print that will be as permanent as possible. The action of bleaching is in some ways a very much accelerated process of again. With silver printing you have some built-in protction of the silver metal from the gelatin within which it is encapsulated. With kallitype all that metal is right on the surface and extremely vulnerable to attack by the elements. For that reason most everyone recommends toning kallitypes, and one measure of how effective the toining has been is how resistant the print is to bleaching.

I am quite surprised that there was so much bleching after gold toning. With palladium toning a kallitype print will bleach back no more than 2-5%, and this will be in the shadows. Gold toning should be at least as effective as toning with palladium.

Sandy

 

[stefano_ber]

Here's a great formula given to me by Chad Jarvis (www.redhillphoto.com) for bringing a not quite bright enough kallitype back to life. The highlights lighten up well but what really impressed me is how the mid-tones opened up.

10ml of a 10% working solution of Farmers Reducer
25ml of hypo (same as for when printing the kallitypes)
1 litre water

5-10 minutes in this is usually sufficient.

sorry if I reopen this old post. I was trying this formula but I don't understand how it is composed. So 10ml of 10% of the working solution, what exactly would that amount to? Farmer's working solution consists of A + B. If I understand correctly, should I take 10ml of this solution and add 25ml of Hypo? correct? thank you so much