Salt - between salt and silver nitrate

noir_sanglier · May 10, 2024

Hello! Quick question regarding salt prints: after you salt your paper (and it has dried), do you have to apply the silver nitrate and expose it (etc) immediately? Or could you salt a batch of paper and store it for future use? (Also: does using gelatin change the answer to this question?)
I consulted Christina Anderson's book on salt prints, and her instructions for salting the paper include: "Hang the paper or lay flat to dry, or blow dry the paper with a hairdryer and use immediately." (Emphasis mine) However, a colleague of mine suggested salting/gelatinizing the paper ahead of time, storing it indefinitely, and applying the silver nitrate when I'm ready to print. This would be handy if possible...
Thanks in advance for your advice!

nmp · May 10, 2024

Are you sure she is not talking about after coating silver nitrate?

Should be able to store salted paper with or without gelatin long periods of time. Only once silvered it becomes both photo-active and thermally unstable (causing fog or stain, more or less depending on the paper - whether it is buffered or not) so best to expose and process it right after.

:Niranjan.

koraks · May 10, 2024

noir_sanglier said:
do you have to apply the silver nitrate and expose it (etc) immediately? Or could you salt a batch of paper and store it for future use?

You could stash them away for later use, but in my experience, salted paper is a very temperamental process. The slightest disturbance tends to create problems. As a result, I'm hesitant to recommend what you're trying to do.

If you use a hairdryer to dry the paper, you can work pretty quickly. I never found this to have adverse effects, but it speeds things up a lot!

noir_sanglier said:
(Also: does using gelatin change the answer to this question?

No, I wouldn't expect so.

noir_sanglier · May 10, 2024

nmp said:
Are you sure she is not talking about after coating silver nitrate?

Should be able to store salted paper with or without gelatin long periods of time. Only once silvered it becomes both photo-active and thermally unstable (causing fog or stain, more or less depending on the paper - whether it is buffered or not) so best to expose and process it right after.

:Niranjan.

Ok, that's what I thought as well, but I was thrown by the "use immediately." (Maybe she means it CAN be used immediately?) Regardless, she's definitely talking about the salting, not silver nitrate (it's on page 61 of the book, if you happen to have it). Thanks for validating what I was thinking!

noir_sanglier · May 10, 2024

koraks said:
You could stash them away for later use, but in my experience, salted paper is a very temperamental process. The slightest disturbance tends to create problems. As a result, I'm hesitant to recommend what you're trying to do.

If you use a hairdryer to dry the paper, you can work pretty quickly. I never found this to have adverse effects, but it speeds things up a lot!

No, I wouldn't expect so.

Ok good to know! Salt seems very picky in all ways, so I'm not surprised. Due to scheduling conflicts, my plan was to salt tonight and do the rest tomorrow morning, and I might still give it a try just for funsies... in my opinion, experimenting is half the fun of alt processes!

koraks · May 10, 2024

noir_sanglier said:
my plan was to salt tonight and do the rest tomorrow morning

Ah, just give it a try, see how it goes. The materials are fairly cheap, so no huge loss if it doesn't pan out.

Welcome aboard btw, it's good to have more alt. process printers around!

nmp · May 10, 2024

noir_sanglier said:
Ok, that's what I thought as well, but I was thrown by the "use immediately." (Maybe she means it CAN be used immediately?) Regardless, she's definitely talking about the salting, not silver nitrate (it's on page 61 of the book, if you happen to have it). Thanks for validating what I was thinking!

If you want absolutely reproducible results, then perhaps using it immediately would make sense to keep the same process conditions for all prints. If you use some immediately and some store for later, there may be some subtle difference between the two cases (color, contrast etc.) because of more or less humidity in the paper as it ages. I tend to do the whole process in the single day so no first hand experience in this regard. To start off, I would coat two sheets with salt, process one right away and leave the other for another day and process it identically. See what happens. Do share the results here!

:Niranjan.

Guillaume Zuili · May 10, 2024

It is after silver nitrate that you need to expose the paper asap. Your colleague is correct.
But don't wait too long..!

Rick A · May 10, 2024

I salt several papers at one time and store them for future use. Once I've sensitized with silver nitrate I use them as soon as they are dry. I've never had any issues from storing them.

retina_restoration · May 10, 2024

Once you've applied the AgNO3, you have to expose the paper asap. But you can salt the paper and store it for a while, until you're ready to print. But don't salt a shi*tload of paper and plan to store it for months before using it - it doesn't store well for a LONG time. The salt will gradually interact with the paper and do funny things (that you don't want).

fgorga · May 10, 2024

I routinely salt batches of paper* by soaking and then hanging sheets to dry naturally overnight. I store the dry, salted paper in zip lock bags and use the paper anytime from one day to many months later without problems.

I sensitize with silver nitrate + citric acid by brushing and naturally drying for a minimum of one hour. I sensitize paper in small batches (up to a dozen or so sheets) which are the exposed over the next several hours.

*I most often use HPR or Revere Platinum, but have also used many other papers most after acid pretreatment.

fgorga · May 10, 2024

retina_restoration said:
The salt will gradually interact with the paper and

Please explain. I'm a chemist and a wracking my brain for a plausible basis for this statement.

retina_restoration said:
do funny things (that you don't want).

Such as? What 'things' have you observed? What evidence do you have that they are due to storing salted, but unsensitized paper?

Salt - between salt and silver nitrate

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Salt - between salt and silver nitrate

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