Photo drying books... anyone use these? How can I make my own?

I picked up a Delta 1 Photo Drying Book at B&H yesterday as I'd been curious about them and am always looking for ways to save space in my small apartment. I dried a print in the book last night and it worked pretty well and even came out quite flat.

Now how can I make some of these myself? I have access to a full bindry, so cutting and binding isn't an issue, but what are the paper stocks?

I have the Delta 1 book also and I like it. Just do not put prints into it that are too wet, that will ruin the blotters. Prints should be slightly damp at best. I let them air dry for a few hours before putting them into the book. If you want to make one yourself, Silverprint is selling acidic free blotter paper for that purpose.

http://shop.silverprint.co.uk/Print-Drying/products/519/

The potential problem with blotter books and rolls is that if a poorly washed print is put in them it will continue to spoil any subsequent prints placed there. By spoil I mean any residual fixer will be transferred to new prints. These books are not used when archival permanence is desired.

Gerald, would that also be a problem if the amount of moisture that is still in the print is already very low?

Gerald C Koch said:

The potential problem with blotter books and rolls is that if a poorly washed print is put in them it will continue to spoil any subsequent prints placed there. By spoil I mean any residual fixer will be transferred to new prints. These books are not used when archival permanence is desired.

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That's a good consideration Gerald. I do wash my prints very well, and the reason I want to find the paper and make my own is so that they can be a bit more disposable.

I think that this is the same paper that Slixtiesix linked to. If so, I could make three of the same little books for cheaper than the one I got at B&H.

In any event, if one were leaving fixer in the prints they won't be archival anyway, so I think it's kind of a non-issue.

Slixtiesix said:

Gerald, would that also be a problem if the amount of moisture that is still in the print is already very low?

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Since the prints contact the outer surface of the blotter where the concentration of residual fixer would be I don't thing the moisture content of the prints is a factor. I have always dried my prints using window screen on framer.

I buy blotter books and take the books apart! I am lucky enough to have a 11x14 Midge-O dryer which uses stacks of blotters and corrugated cardboard. Forced air through the stacks gets the prints dry, remember to cut the cardboard so the tubes permit air to flow. My prints are well washed before drying and are still fixer free after drying-thank you very much! One other thing, moisture and salts, such as fixer or the sulfite's in the corrugated cardboard would move from wetter conditions print into the dryer blotters. I have also built 16x20 "stacks on the counter, weighted down with a laminate covered piece of particle board and air dried with a fan. In either case, the prints dry overnight and are board flat when dry. (The late, great Salthill dryer was a modern take on the Midge-O and the old Burke and James blotter dryers.)

Is it truly archival? Probably not. Is it commercially correctly processed? Yup.

p.s. David Vestal used blotters to dry his prints, lots and lots and lots of blotters. If it was good enough for him...

The paper may be available as sheets from art supply stores sold for artist work. The tricky thing may be establishing the "neutrality" of the paper, apparently "archival" quality can mean different things in different situations :-(