Looking for carbon print examples?

monkeytumble · Dec 14, 2008

To make a longer story shorter, I have wanted to see an actual, physical, real carbon print for over thirty years, when I first read a stunning description of carbon prints in a magazine. Over the past couple years, I seen a number of other wonderful alternative process prints, but I have not found a carbon print, so it is time to make it happen...

If you have a carbon print that you would like to sell for a modest amount, it can even be a "second", please contact me. I just want to see one and get a sense of what a carbon print is or can be.

Thanks,

Jay Decker
Kennewick, WA

Colin Graham · Dec 14, 2008

Hi Jay, I can send you one, if you're interested. I'm over on the Olympic peninsula. I've got so many 'almost' prints it would be good to get rid of a few.

pschwart · Dec 14, 2008

monkeytumble said:
To make a longer story shorter, I have wanted to see an actual, physical, real carbon print for over thirty years, when I first read a stunning description of carbon prints in a magazine. Over the past couple years, I seen a number of other wonderful alternative process prints, but I have not found a carbon print, so it is time to make it happen...

If you have a carbon print that you would like to sell for a modest amount, it can even be a "second", please contact me. I just want to see one and get a sense of what a carbon print is or can be.

Thanks,

Jay Decker
Kennewick, WA

See Sandy King's article on carbon printing in the Nov/Dec issue of view Camera. Unlike a lot of other alt processes, the look and feel of carbon prints can vary wildly between print makers -- matte; glossy; high relief; no relief;
monochrome (any color) or full color; printed on glass, aluminum, watercolor paper, synthetic paper, photo paper; single-transfer or double-transfer ...
Do seek out prints, just keep in mind that no single print will be representative of all the styles being practiced.

monkeytumble · Dec 14, 2008

pschwart said:
See Sandy King's article on carbon printing in the Nov/Dec issue of view Camera. Unlike a lot of other alt processes, the look and feel of carbon prints can vary wildly between print makers -- matte; glossy; high relief; no relief;
monochrome (any color) or full color; printed on glass, aluminum, watercolor paper, synthetic paper, photo paper; single-transfer or double-transfer ...
Do seek out prints, just keep in mind that no single print will be representative of all the styles being practiced.

Thank you for mentioning Sandy King and his recent article in View Camera. That article motivated to post this thread. Sandy King's enthusiasm for the process and his contributions through his numerous articles have been inspiring to me.

Colin will be sending me a carbon print... I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing a carbon print!

pschwart · Dec 15, 2008

monkeytumble said:
Thank you for mentioning Sandy King and his recent article in View Camera. That article motivated to post this thread. Sandy King's enthusiasm for the process and his contributions through his numerous articles have been inspiring to me.

Colin will be sending me a carbon print... I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing a carbon print!

You might also want to join the Bostick & Sullivan carbon forum at
www.carbonprinting.com. There are a lot of lively and useful discussions there.

monkeytumble · Dec 15, 2008

Thanks! I didn't know about that forum.

Jay

pschwart said:
You might also want to join the Bostick & Sullivan carbon forum at
www.carbonprinting.com. There are a lot of lively and useful discussions there.

Colin Graham · Dec 15, 2008

I did mentioned to Jay that I transfer on watercolor paper so the relief isn't what a silver gelatin or aluminum support might be. So if anyone has samples of those, feel free to send me one too. :-D

sanking · Dec 15, 2008

Yesterday I posted a new image on the carbon forum. See it here.
http://bostick-sullivan.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=415

Before making this print I had made a test and used a sensitizer that was too weak, the result being that there is not sufficient density in the highlights. But the print shows the relief effect very well. I just threw the print in the waste basket to discard, but if any of you want to see part of the print for the relief effect I will be happy to cut it up into two or four parts and mail to anyone willing to pay a nominal $5 to cover postage and handling. Anyone intereste contact me by private email at sanking at clemson dot edu.

Again, this is only for the purpose of illustrating relief as the contrast of the print is definitely off and the highlights are blown out.

Sandy King

donbga · Dec 15, 2008

sanking said:
I will be happy to cut it up into two or four parts and mail to anyone willing to pay a nominal $5 to cover postage and handling. Anyone intereste contact me by private email at sanking at clemson dot edu.

Sandy King

Could you like, sign those for us Sandy?

Don

sanking · Dec 15, 2008

Don,

No problem. Add $800 and I will sign on the back.

In fact, for that price I will even cut up the good one in four parts and send you one of the parts.

Sandy

Don Bryant said:
Could you like, sign those for us Sandy?

Don

monkeytumble · Dec 22, 2008

Colin's print arrived a few days ago. It is beautiful. I have the sense that Colin might have been a little apprehensive to share something that wasn't perfect, i.e., like most of us, probably has difficulty seeing beyond any annoying imperfections. But, his print really gave me a sense of how rich the carbon print as a medium can be, and I'm confident that Colin's keepers are magnificent. Thanks Colin.

Sandy King's print arrived today. You can see and physically feel the relieve in the image. I would love to see one of Sandy's final prints. Thanks Sandy, I wish keepers was as good as your trash can contributions.

Again, thank you gentlemen. I'm might just have to try making some carbon prints... and, I think that I might have to start collecting a few carbon prints.

Thanks,

Jay Decker
Kennewick, WA

Colin Graham · Dec 23, 2008

Thanks for the nice comment Jay. Really glad I could help out.

sanking · Dec 24, 2008

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you find the prints interesting.

Sandy King

monkeytumble · Dec 26, 2008

If you will allow me one more question here, what would be a good path to achieving a first successful carbon print?

I'm aware of some of Sandy King's articles, Dick Sullivan's book, and other forums on the subject of carbon printing. If the answer to getting on a defined, concrete path to making a first carbon print is to buy Mr. Sullivan's book and to purchase the materials listed in and to follow the directions in Chapter 5 - then great, that is the type of answer I'm hoping is out there and what I'd do. After I have the basic process down, then I can use the information available in other venues to begin refining my process.

Thanks,

Jay Decker
Kennewick, WA

donbga · Dec 26, 2008

monkeytumble said:
If you will allow me one more question here, what would be a good path to achieving a first successful carbon print?

The easiest route to begin with is to use some of B&S carbon tissue. This will get you familiar with the mechanics of printing and transferring carbon images.

Of course the next step is to make your own tissue.

Don Bryant

sanking · Dec 26, 2008

Jay,

Since you already know of my articles and have Dick's book you have enough information to get started. I also have a book and if interested you can contact me directly.

I would strongly suggest that you start with the B&S manufactured tissue rather than try to make your own. Of the B&S tissues I would recommend the high relief renaissance black, and perhaps the nut black also if it is available in high relief.

After than the basic supplies and materials you will need are pretty simple. The major item that you may not have is a UV light source, and there are lots of options here. I have an article on UV light sources at unblinkingeye.come. A little old now but most of the information is still current.

Sandy King

monkeytumble said:
If you will allow me one more question here, what would be a good path to achieving a first successful carbon print?

I'm aware of some of Sandy King's articles, Dick Sullivan's book, and other forums on the subject of carbon printing. If the answer to getting on a defined, concrete path to making a first carbon print is to buy Mr. Sullivan's book and to purchase the materials listed in and to follow the directions in Chapter 5 - then great, that is the type of answer I'm hoping is out there and what I'd do. After I have the basic process down, then I can use the information available in other venues to begin refining my process.

Thanks,

Jay Decker
Kennewick, WA

pschwart · Dec 26, 2008

sanking said:
Jay,

Since you already know of my articles and have Dick's book you have enough information to get started. I also have a book and if interested you can contact me directly.

I would strongly suggest that you start with the B&S manufactured tissue rather than try to make your own. Of the B&S tissues I would recommend the high relief renaissance black, and perhaps the nut black also if it is available in high relief.

After than the basic supplies and materials you will need are pretty simple. The major item that you may not have is a UV light source, and there are lots of options here. I have an article on UV light sources at unblinkingeye.come. A little old now but most of the information is still current.

Sandy King

I would add: start with single transfer onto fixed photo paper. I would recommend RC paper as you can easily wash off test images and reuse the paper, and you can transfer onto both front and back with equal success so this is very cost effective while learning. I would recommend against using the sun as a light source. I know this is attractive, but it quickly becomes onerous when you are trying to develop your printing skills. I am still using the first UV light source I build using electronic ballasts and BLB tubes. Once you have collected the parts you can cobble together one of these in a few hours.

pschwart · Dec 26, 2008

pschwart said:
I would add: start with single transfer onto fixed photo paper. I would recommend RC paper as you can easily wash off test images and reuse the paper, and you can transfer onto both front and back with equal success so this is very cost effective while learning. I would recommend against using the sun as a light source. I know this is attractive, but it quickly becomes onerous when you are trying to develop your printing skills. I am still using the first UV light source I build using electronic ballasts and BLB tubes. Once you have collected the parts you can cobble together one of these in a few hours.

And I would recommend both Dick's and Sandy's books. They differ in their approach and anyone learning carbon printing would want both.

Looking for carbon print examples?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency