lith prints archival stability

timeUnit · May 21, 2006

Hi!

Yesterday evening I had a lot of fun doing lith prints until 3 AM. I was using Moersch easy lith and Fomatone MG Classic.

But something came to mind, and I couldn't find a lot of info on the web or here.

The special look of lith prints (mine are black/green/pink/tan), is it archival? I'm not familiar with the chemical process that creates the lith colors, so to me it would not be a surprise if archival stability was a part of the lith process. The contrary would not amaze me either. :rolleyes:

If I tone the prints, much of the look will be lost, I guess? I will tone some of the prints in selenium, but I expect the color to change quite a bit.

What do y'all say?

donbga · May 21, 2006

timeUnit said:
Hi!

What do y'all say?

Time will tell!

unregistered · May 21, 2006

As long as you go thru the standard archival process for "regular" B&W printing, i.e. fix, prewash, hypo clear, final wash, they will be archival just like a non-lith print. The colors don't change the archivalness of the print.

Toning will change the colors, which you might like...but if you like what you have, just fix per manufacturers reccomendations, and use the archival steps that Perma Wash (my favorite) tell you to do to reach the standards.

Dan Williams · May 21, 2006

Tim Rudman, the Master Lith Printer, suggests treating the print with Sistan, especially for prints not toned with one of the archival toners. The color variation produced by lith is, to a great degree, a function of grain size. The warmer tones are produced by smaller grains. Smaller grains result in a larger surface area per grain and a higher suseptability to environmental degridation.

tim rudman · May 22, 2006

DarkroomDan said:
Tim Rudman, the Master Lith Printer, suggests treating the print with Sistan, especially for prints not toned with one of the archival toners. The color variation produced by lith is, to a great degree, a function of grain size. The warmer tones are produced by smaller grains. Smaller grains result in a larger surface area per grain and a higher suseptability to environmental degridation.

I think Dan has it covered here. The greater surface area makes a bigger target, so careful archival fixing & washing is a must. Toning with archival toners will always change the lith print colour a lot if done enough to protect, so Sistan is a wise option for those prints wher you don't want any more colour shift.
Tim

menglert · May 22, 2006

Good topic, I had the same question myself. Isn't Sistan made by Agfa? If so isn't it discontinued? Does anyone have a substitute for this or know of a place who will be supplying it into the future?

Lachlan Young · May 22, 2006

menglert said:
Good topic, I had the same question myself. Isn't Sistan made by Agfa? If so isn't it discontinued? Does anyone have a substitute for this or know of a place who will be supplying it into the future?

It's back in production and avaiable in the UK from Silverprint.

Hope this helps,

Lachlan

timeUnit · May 22, 2006

Thanks for your informative replies!

I'll be extra careful in fix/wash with the untoned lith prints. I did some selenium toning on the prints todey and it looks great too. The untoned prints are green/black in the shadows, with selenium they go brown black, as expected. A different look, but in a very good way.

I don't tone to completion, as these warm tone papers then turn chocolate and lose Dmax.

lith prints archival stability

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