Questions before making my first kallitype

[tnp651]

I've got B&S's kallitype kit and am about to start with test prints. Before I do, I have a few questions:

Should I be using fumed silica with Platine?
At this time of year my darkroom is very dry. Should I be humidifying my Platine before coating?
I saw somewhere the instruction to warm the sensitizer to 86°F. Should I?
Can I coat a sheet and cut off pieces for exposure tests, keeping the rest for subsequent days?
Should I use non-chlorinated water for the first clearing bath?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Tom

 

[Dahod]

I've just gotten interested in Kallitypes as well and I've been struggling a bit to find information. I ordered an older version of Christopher James' book and Jill Enfield's book as well so with any luck, they'll help me get started. Hopefully your post will generate some discussion of best practices and what to watch out for.

Good luck
Dave

 

[tnp651]

Hi Dave,
I emailed most of these questions to Bostick & Sullivan and got a phone call from them yesterday. Here's what I've learned:

Fumed silica is helpful with Arches Platine to help the emulsion sink in. Don't use very much. Roll it on, illuminating the paper with a skimming light across the surface. You'll see ridges where the edge of the roller pushes the silica. When the ridges disappear, stop. If you continue, ridges will again start to appear.

Use of TWEEN may make it unnecessary to use fumed silica.

TWEEN may overcome the dryness of the coating room. As for whether to humidify or not (in the absence of TWEEN), it MAY be helpful...

The 86° recommendation is in Jan Arnow's book Handbook of Alternative Processes. Leigh at B&S said, just coat between 65 and 75° and you're good.

I'll be doing a minimum-exposure test, processing that, then exposing a step wedge. Two prints about an hour apart. In that case, no problem coating a larger sheet and cutting off a piece for each test. Keep the unexposed piece dark and away from air (in a black envelope, say). But the silver in the emulsion will react with air, so coating up a bunch of sheets for future use is not recommended.

Leigh didn't address the use of non-chlorinated water (and I forgot to ask) but it sounds like a good idea.

I had thought to use gold toner as a one-shot. Their gold tone kit makes 10 liters of working solution. Leigh suggested that I make a liter and reuse it until it ceases to work, then either add more fresh solution or discard it.

Oh yes, and she said the "black tone developer" in the kit is sodium acetate and tartaric acid.

I hope this helps.
Tom

 

[Bruce]

Tom - What is the catalog number for the gold toner from B&S. I want to try it.

Dave- Read Sandy Kings article on Kallitypes- its on Unblinking Eye. Good information on the Kallitype process

 

[tnp651]

Bruce, the Gold Toning Kit for Salted Paper, Vandyke and Kallitype has the SKU of POPGOLD. It contains 500 ml of ammonium thiocyanate solution 2% and 500 ml of gold chloride 0.2%.

Dave, Sandy King's article is at http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Kallitype/kallitype.html
Tom

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

It's a constant battle up here during winter for me to make Kallitypes due to low humidity. So now summer is Kallitype season for me. Winter is Carbon Transfer printing.

 

[tnp651]

Andrew, what happens if the paper is too dry?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andrew, what happens if the paper is too dry?

Horrid spotting. Steaming the sensitised paper after it's dry helps a bit but still not perfect. This paper is too expensive for me, so I've decided to print when the humidity up here goes up.

 

[tnp651]

OK, I've made a few test prints and am posting my findings.

First, I'm using dry fumed silica on Arches Platine paper. I roll it gently with a foam roller until the surface feels velvety. I have B&S's kallitype kit for sensitizer. For an 8x10" equivalent sheet: 24 drops 10% silver nitrate, 24 drops 20% ferric oxalate, 1 drop ammonium dichromate and 1 drop of TWEEN 20 cut 50-50 with distilled water. Developer is B&S "black tone developer" (sodium acetate & tartaric acid) for 10 min, clearing with citric acid, gold toning 10 min, and hypo for 2 min.

Here's what I've found:
1. A reasonably inexpensive, off-the-shelf UV light is the QUANS 110v 20W UV LED light <https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B018C71QHI?psc=1> for $49.99. I get a maximum DMax at 12 minutes with the light 40" from the negative.

2. A 60 watt yellow bug light 48" from the workspace is very bright and completely safe. A 12-minute safelight exposure (with half the sensitized sample covered) shows absolutely no density.

3. The sensitized paper seems to keep well for several days without losing sensitivity. I've been coating an 8x10" and cutting off pieces for tests.

4. The Platine hasn't had the spotting that Andrew O'Neill noticed, despite my darkroom being pretty dry and not using a humidifier. It's clearing quite nicely with two 2-minute rinses in acidified tap water and 4 minutes in 3% citric acid clearing agent.

5. 20% sodium citrate developer gives the same DMax but the high values burn out about a third-stop sooner. Sodium citrate gives a strong red-brown cast but...

6. Gold toning overrides the developed color, producing a very neutral black and a barely-noticeable cream white.

7. ChartThrob is a free script for Adobe Photoshop that simplifies writing a curve for digital negatives. Using the script, you print a step chart on your transparent medium of choice and print a starting kallitype. Scan that print and, with the image on-screen, run the ChartThrob script again. Now it has an option to analyze the chart. It does so and produces a Curves layer that you can save and re-use. Print a new digital negative using the curve and print again. The new print should have a smooth progression of tones from white to black. Here's the link: <http://www.botzilla.com/blog/archives/000544.html>.
Remember:
Work on an RGB image
Run the curve on the POSITIVE image
Flatten, then invert
Don't forget to flip the image left-to-right before you print

8. I suppose everybody else knows this but me: when you print your digital negative, use glossy ink. Matte black ink on my Epson R2880 printer made a mess.

Happy printing!
Tom