Vaughn, just how hard and expensive is Carbon printing? I see that Jim is making Carbon prints and some others too.Curt
Carbon printing is cheap in material, expensive in time. But then the time aspect is relative. For those who are use to walking into their darkroom, pouring out some chemicals in trays, start silver printing, and coming out a few hours later with a finished print (or something close to finished), carbon printing will seem quite laborious. To those making wet plates, tri-color gum prints, or the like, the carbon printing process will seem to be a relatively quick process.
Compared to platinum printing, carbon printing is very cheap and perhaps twice as time consumptive...though perhaps the learning curve for carbon printing is a bit steeper...just because there are more variables to control.
Cost...to make eight 8x10 prints:
12 packets of Knox Unflavored gelatin -- about $3
60 grams sugar -- a few pennies
5 grams lampblack watercolor paint in a tube (can be cheap type) -- a couple bucks or so
4 or 5 grams of Ammonium dichromate -- a couple bucks maybe?
Photopaper people give you because it is too old -- free
So perhaps a total of a buck a print. Buying gelatin in bulk will probably reduce the cost, and some printers use less expensive pigments (colorants for house paints, Sumi and other inks, etc.) One fellow makes his own carbon pigment from the coal of the coal mining area he is photographing.
Time --
An hour or two in the morning to make the pigmented gelatin (then let it sit in a warm water bath for the rest of the day) and 4 to 6 hours that evening to pour the tissue. (let dry for a couple days).
About 12 hours of printing to make the 8 prints, once one has a system down.
The time for printing can be reduced with a bright light source (a 1000W plate-maker, for example). I just got one, but have not used it yet...otherwise my exposures are one to two hours long. Finding the most efficient way to work with the equipment and space one has, will cut time off.
So for little money, and not too much time (once one gets use to the idea that one isn't buying everything pre-made), one gets incredible print quality and maximum stability/lifespan.
Vaughn
PS...Curt, if you are interested I will email you a PDF of my carbon printing "manual" -- but even better, or at least easier, here is a link to a "How to" article by Sandy King. We work differently -- yet seem to be able to get the same results.
http://unblinkingeye.com//Articles/Carbon/carbon.html
And other PS...I forgot to mention...one can buy the carbon tissue already made from Bostick and Sullivan. A way to quick-start the process.
