Newbie - Starting to coat paper

[Photo Engineer]

Denise, it is a matter of scale. To do a 16x20 sheet takes 40+ ml of solution to move from top to bottom. A well or blade will contain this but a puddle pusher or wire wrapped rod will not and thus you have to make provision for the excess or your slopometer will sound an alarm!

There is also the matter of how fast you want to work. If you want to coat 10 sheets to make prints for display and friends, you must coat about 12 to get 10 good ones (on average), and what with melting and mixing, this can take several hours. If you add any extra manipulations, then it just takes more time.

So, the answer is, it depends. What do you want..

How wide is your widest well, and your widest puddle pusher, and have you ever used a wire wrapped rod?

PE

 

[dwross]

Agreed. It is a matter a scale. Not sure what point the rest of your post makes. There are challenges to working big? Yes, of course. But, isn't it far more interesting to contemplate the solutions and the creative potential rather than chase straw boogeymen?

It sounds to me like Flavio is a careful worker who plans on starting small with the materials that are available to him. As he progresses in his craft he will be able to determine with each step the best way forward. That's how it works. I look forward to the results!

 

[Photo Engineer]

Denise, I regularly coat 8x10 sheets in quantities of 10 - 40 sheets / session. I was suggesting that any "slop" would slow this down, and since I had never seen your wells as being very large size, and did not know what size you used as a max, I was asking a QUESTION, or did you fail to read my last sentence?

PE

 

[fdonadio]

It sounds to me like Flavio is a careful worker who plans on starting small with the materials that are available to him. As he progresses in his craft he will be able to determine with each step the best way forward. That's how it works. I look forward to the results!

Thanks, Denise! That's a very accurate (and kind of flattering) description of me.

In other news: the pharma-grade gelatin is on its way, a 100 gram sample from Gelita, 240 BI, mesh 30. Should be good for a handful of different formulas!

Equipment and materials are being sourced and should be here in a month or so.

I hope it takes no longer than two months for me to post the results here!


Regards,
Flavio

 

[Photo Engineer]

Flavio, looking forward to seeing some of your negatives and prints here.

PE

 

[hgaude]

I have to applaud anyone doing this kind of work.

+1