Problems with making albumin paper.

mug

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• Jun 6, 2022

• #1

Problems with making albumin paper. I use same recipe as Christopher James.
The previous series of paper worked very fine. But I can do 0% of that now.
Unfortunately, the new series of albumin paper has become worthless.
Don't know what the problem is. Here an example (from kb negative). Very strong spots.
Any tips? Where do these stains come from ?

 

juan

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• Jun 6, 2022

• #2

What are you using for eggs? I found that powdered egg whites sold in the US now have an additive that makes them unsuitable and causes spots. I found plain egg whites sold in a carton like milk (again in the US) to be suitable. I also found that paper of the same brand can change from one run to another.

Good luck.

 

OP

OP

mug

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• Jun 6, 2022

• #3

It was the same bottle of Eggs. Four year old! The first two runs where fine. I used then Crob'Art paper from Canson. This bad run same bottle but paper Strathmore 500 (slight thicker, smoother, and whiter paper, what I like more than the creamy, thin Crob'Art).
I've an second bottle made week ago from plain egg whites sold in a carton like milk.(not tested if this is OK)
I also did Strathmore 500 with a salt print. These photo's where fine. But I like Albumen more then Salt.

 

TheYoungPretender

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• Jun 6, 2022

• #4

A majority of my problems with speckled/blotchy prints in silver nitrate processes has been the paper. Even using the same paper, but different batches, have resulted in results like yours. My recommendation would be to try another paper stock and see if it goes away.

 

OP

OP

mug

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• Jun 6, 2022

• #5

Thank you for the advice. I am going to focus on the paper now. There are so many variables that, as a beginner, you don't always know which knob to turn.
I have another beautiful paper ready with an albumen layer. I am going to put it in the silver nitrate later. Let's see what that paper does.

 

nmp

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• Jun 6, 2022

• #6

If you still have some of the Canson paper left over, I would use that first and see if you can reproduce the earlier good results. What I have learned (the hard way) is never finish off one paper (or one batch of a paper) completely before changing so you can always back-test if a new problem surfaces.

:Niranjan.