I have also received my copy, and I can tell you it is a very exciting book. Congratulations to Denise, this book is going to be one of the classic books on emulsion making, no doubt about that. I have not made any of the emulsions shown in the “The Handmade Silver Gelatin Emulsion Print” myself yet, but would like to share my first impressions after studying most of the book.
In the first section, Denise goes through some basics like the vocabulary, darkroom setup, materials required and the chemistry. Enough for the beginner to start, spot-on, and full of the practical experience of Denise in order to give even advanced emulsion makers new insights and ideas. Denies shows us her setup to coat and process paper and all the tools she uses and more importantly how they are used in order to create Quality homemade papers. Before diving into the recipes of the different emulsion, Denise teaches us to overcome the most common problems encountered when coating a handmade paper . Furthermore, she shows us how to print, process and tone our papers, each step described in detail and illustrated with lots of pictures from Denise´s daily work.
In section two, we find the recipes for different developers, a baryta sub-coating and detailed instructions for making six different emulsions, each illustrated lovely with many examples, and instructions for processing and toning of each of the emulsions:
1.) “KCL Gaslight contact printing paper
2.) Three salts contact printing paper
3.) Chlorobromide all-purpose printing paper
4.) Bromide paper for enlarging and contact printing
5.) Gelatine Chloride printing out paper
6.) Paper negatives
Each recipe comes with detailed instructions – easy to follow – and illustrations what your results could and should look like. It must have taken years of experimenting to research and assemble these formulas shared with us.
Section three shows a series of contributions by other artists. These comprise many inspiring pictures on handmade photographic paper as well as another chapter on POP paper (including two historic emulsions, developer, toner and fixer recipe) and a recipe for an azo type emulsion.
This detailed manual for making your own paper is extraordinary. Denise shares her knowledge and experience with us and provides detailed instructions on how to make our own papers. She does not hold back on necessary details or assumptions as so many authors in the past have done. The book is a manual for success to make your own paper, and as such worth its weight in gold. A definite buy, even if and especially when you already own Ron Mowrey´s book or Denise´s first book.
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One side note: The Azo type formula on page 295 seems off. It does not state the amount of silver nitrate required, and the salt content seems low for the amount of gel used.
