Printing on fixed silver gelatin paper

[rdbkorn]

@crispinuk - the chili image is wonderful, the coffee makes a nice warm background for the subject, and I like the edge effects where the negative didn't cover the entire paper.

 

[pedropolis]

to 100 grams of sensitizer, add 10 grams of gelatin and heat to 40C. Hold this until all gelatin has dissolved. Add to this, 5 cc of 10% Glyoxal or 10% Chrome alum and a few drops of surfactant.

PE

PE,

I have been following this thread with interest and am thinking of having a go, I just have one hesitation:

the only hardener I have in stock is formalin, will this react to the sensitiser in any way. I normally use it for hardening pure gelatin size for gum printing.

are there any contradictions i should know about? I don't want to make anything nastier than formaldehyde fumes! I will be using traditional cyanotype and maybe agyrotype

cheers
pete

 

[Photo Engineer]

Pete;

All formalin and glyoxal type hardeners will react with ferricyanide with time. Therefore, time and heat are your enemy once you mix the hardener into the sensitizer. Also, if you add too much, the paper can turn blue with time. This is the general problem you will have coating with a hardener. In fact, it is a problem with silver halide as well. Aldehyde hardeners gradually fog films and papers.

PE

 

[pedropolis]

thanks for your swift reply!

I guess the way to go would be to add the hardener by the drop to the required amount just before coating, as i do with sizing. I will try a couple of experiments to see how it goes...now that i know i am not risking any unpleasant chemical reactions!

the depth of your knowledge continues to impress me

cheers
pete

 

[Photo Engineer]

Pete;

I make 120 ml batches and coat about 12 ml per square foot of the mix which is as described above, 50% senstizer and 50% gelatin so that the final solution is 10% gelatin. It takes me about 1 hour to prepare and then coat the 10 sheets or so that I usually make.

I coat on plain uncoated baryta. The glossy cyanotype you can get is quite beautiful.

PE

 

[pedropolis]

I know it has been over a year since my last activity here but I thought I should post a follow up since i recently rediscovered my tests with this process while having a clear out.

Thank you to PE for your suggestions and assistance, I am only sorry i did not post this at the time

these images are on coated baryta inkjet paper, simply because I considered it more expendable

hopefully one day I will have time to try this on real gelatin coated paper

Not sure how image posting works here, now that I'm not subscribed, so here are some urls to the images on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/style_and_silver/3571184835/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/style_and_silver/3571991668/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/style_and_silver/3571992032/

I have compiled the images and the notes I have on the subject on my blog here:Dead Link Removed

Take care

Pete

 

[Dana Sullivan]

I know it's probably been said in other threads, but I have had excellent results using "Renaissance Wax" on the surface of platinum prints, cyanotypes and other handcoated processes.

I have also experimented with running prints through an etching press, which I believe is called "calendaring". I'm more of the lab-geek at work, while my brother was our darkroom geek, so I could be wrong on the terminology.

Regardless, running prints through an etching press produced a slightly glossy surface on a 100% rag paper, and also made the images look sharper and gave the impression of a higher-dmax. I believe the sharpness and d-max came from the fact that the paper fibers were smashed closer together, which eliminated any "dead space" between the fibers. Cotton papers contain a lot of air, and the fibers have tiny spaces between them. Your eyes can see the dead space, but sort of like a half tone image, the brain interprets the black fiber next to a empty space as a shade of grey. Smash the fibers closer together, and your brains says "Hey, that image is darker!".

Just a thought.........