Showcase for Your HCWP's

[Rolleiflexible]

Living where I do, far from the madding crowds and in close proximity to wilderness has its benefits, but a small & thinly spread population makes such finds almost impossible.

Murray, Madison County NC is hardly a teeming metropolis! The seller, a Hungarian artist, lives in a hamlet an hour east of me, in Bakersville, not far from the Penland School for crafts. I lucked out — this is a lovely press that he brought with him from Europe.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Murray, Madison County NC is hardly a teeming metropolis! The seller, a Hungarian artist, lives in a hamlet an hour east of me, in Bakersville, not far from the Penland School for crafts. I lucked out — this is a lovely press that he brought with him from Europe.

Yup, isolation is a relative thing...people in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut probably chuckle at me thinking I live in an out of the way spot.

Haven't heard back from the middle school person in a nearby town who said they had an Ettan press for sale. I'll give the school a call after the holidays. Building a DIY Doug Forsythe Build-a-Press Orangeman model is also still in play.

Dare to Dream!

 

[Rolleiflexible]

One last before the end of 2023: A platinum-toned kallitype of the Triboro Bridge, developed with sodium acetate on Revere Platinum paper.

 

[koraks]

Lovely, graphic image. The sharply defined structures at the bottom form a nice contrast with the soft shapes that dominate the upper part of the image. The neutral image tone works very well here, too.

 

[KYsailor]

One last before the end of 2023: A platinum-toned kallitype of the Triboro Bridge, developed with sodium acetate on Revere Platinum paper.

Lovely image, to my eye almost an abstract, in tones of grays and deep blacks. Glad to see you are still turning them out. I have been out of the dimroom/studio for some time - got a new left knee... taking me a while to get back to my normal life. I am impressed by your jump into photogravure - I am sure you will enjoy it.

 

[fgorga]

One last before the end of 2023: A platinum-toned kallitype of the Triboro Bridge, developed with sodium acetate on Revere Platinum paper.

Interesting, unique photo... certainly not what I was expecting from the title.

I was born and spent my early life within "spitting distance" of the Queens end of the Triborough. Although, like many families, we moved to the suburbs when it was time for me to start school.

My last salt prints of the year are drying as I write. You'll see them here tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

 

[fgorga]

Four new untoned salt prints from digital negatives, all from exposures made earlier in December.

The first two (square) images were made by photographing the ground glass of a camera obscura with a small digital camera. The last two images are from a 'regular' dSLR.


District 5 Schoolhouse, East Washington, NH

The building with three doors is interesting. The center door is a woodshed and the other two were boys and girls outhouses.

Church, East Washington, NH

Black Birch and Stone Wall

Eva's Marsh, Early Winter

The jury's out on this one; not sure about the lack of detail in the cloud but I like the patterns of light on the snow and ice.

The tone of this print is slightly different from the others. It was the first print I made in the session and I often see this happen. I have no explanation.

I coat all the paper needed for a session in a single batch. Thus the brush (which is initially dampened with water) is loaded with sensitizer slightly differently for the first sheet than for the remainder. This might be the reason. However, I have not put any effort in to investigating why. It's just one of the vagaries of alt process!

 

[NedL]

Four new untoned salt prints from digital negatives, all from exposures made earlier in December...

Very nice Frank!

The second one has a very interesting feel to it.. there's a kind of rhythm with the trees and shadows. It almost feels like a theater set with lighting and the church painted into a backdrop. This was made with a pinhole camera projecting onto ground glass? Now I want to try that

 

[fgorga]

Very nice Frank!

The second one has a very interesting feel to it.. there's a kind of rhythm with the trees and shadows. It almost feels like a theater set with lighting and the church painted into a backdrop. This was made with a pinhole camera projecting onto ground glass? Now I want to try that

Ned,

Thanks!

My camera obscura actually has a simple biconvex lens rather than a pinhole. The lens is mounted in a brass tube which can be slid in and out of a hole in the wooden body to adjust the focus.

I also 'cheat' by putting a fresnel lens under the ground glass. This evens out the illumination on the ground glass considerably.

Here is a photo of my contraption...

 

[tnp651]

I finally feel as if I'm getting close to making the kallitype process work for me with human subjects. Here's a photo I made of Melanie when we lived in Boca Raton ten years ago. I have a huge catalog of nudes -- might need to look back and reprint a few more as kallitypes.

Skin tones are good, I don't see any banding, good shadow and highlight detail. I'd say you're there.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

I'm not sure if this belongs here -- it's not a hand-coated wet print. But I just printed my first photogravure yesterday and I am astonished by the results. I picked an image with deep shadows and blown highlights. The gravure did a much better job of rendering shadow deail than I had expected, while also delivering a lot of detail in the highlights. I had help -- I was printing on Clay Harmon's press -- and I am a rank beginner but I was still able to pull a print that exceeded my best efforts with kallitypes.

 

[koraks]

Oooh, that's pretty. Very nicely done. And yes, photogravure can actually be pretty forgiving. You can influence the shadows and highlights quite a bit by judiciously wiping the plate.

 

[KYsailor]

Very nice, good shadow and highlight detail and no apparent graininess. Clay's equipment and techniques are just excellent- it has taken me some time to achieve the similar results here in Louisville ( press set up, UV burner, etc are slightly different) Nevertheless, a great start. I have to agree with you - after doing photogravure I have sort of lost interest in kallitypes, although I just ordered some new cyanotype chemicals - still hooked on that dark blue for some reason.

I have been off my feet for a couple of weeks due to a knee replacement, but I am anxious to get back to making some photogravure intaglio prints. I moved from a windows machine to a mac mini over the holidays and it has taken me awhile to figure out the menu's in MacOS, but Print tool is so much better than the Windows version. My aging 3880 has been giving me fits - yesterday I was ready to order a new P900, but after a couple of hours messing with it this morning, I was able to get it running again.... we will see.

I can't remember if I posted the attached scan of a print. It is one I made locally from a plate I made a Clay's workshop, a bit grainy need to work on my technique ( not sure if the paper moisture content was correct). Good luck - let me know if you tested those 365nm UV LED banks you mentioned- I would like to build a new UV LED burner (the one at my studio take 45 minutes) and I was not ready to invest $500-$600 in the Jon Cone LED strips.

Dave

 

[Rolleiflexible]

I just ordered some new cyanotype chemicals - still hooked on that dark blue for some reason.

Look into Charbonnel "Prussian Blue" ink -- it should give a tone similar to cyanotypes.

My aging 3880 has been giving me fits - yesterday I was ready to order a new P900, but after a couple of hours messing with it this morning, I was able to get it running again.... we will see

Clay uses a P800 and is spending time this weekend figuring out how his P800 workflow compares to the P900. He did mention to me that his usual P800 printer settings do NOT work well with the 3880. When you get your printer sorted out, check back in with Clay -- I'm sure he can help.

let me know if you tested those 365nm UV LED banks you mentioned- I would like to build a new UV LED burner (the one at my studio take 45 minutes) and I was not ready to invest $500-$600 in the Jon Cone LED strips.

I found a Chinese supplier of 365nm lights that look like Cone's 5-meter strips for less than half of what Cone charges. I've ordered four reels. As soon as I receive them, Clay and I will test them and see how they compare.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

You can influence the shadows and highlights quite a bit by judiciously wiping the plate.

I figured this out the hard way: I didn't wipe enough of the highlights on my first print and the result was dull. More vigorous wiping in the highlights brightened them right up. Amazing!

 

[KYsailor]

Look into Charbonnel "Prussian Blue" ink -- it should give a tone similar to cyanotypes.



Clay uses a P800 and is spending time this weekend figuring out how his P800 workflow compares to the P900. He did mention to me that his usual P800 printer settings do NOT work well with the 3880. When you get your printer sorted out, check back in with Clay -- I'm sure he can help.



I found a Chinese supplier of 365nm lights that look like Cone's 5-meter strips for less than half of what Cone charges. I've ordered four reels. As soon as I receive them, Clay and I will test them and see how they compare.

Sanders,

Thanks for all the suggestions - I have actually purchased some blue ink and want to give it a try when I get back into the studio. I ran across this artist in the UK that prints some beautiful images in both cyano and photogravure of flowers - made me think of giving this a try - https://www.rosalindhobley.com/cyanotype-prints/dogroses1blue. I am a member of a local botanic garden and I have lots of opportunities to shoot botanicals, although to be honest I am almost done with that and need to move on to other ideas.

I am aware that the new Epson P series require a different workflow and QTR profiles. Clay has graciously, provided me with his QRT profile for doing DPT on the 3880. He uses a 3880 in some of his west coast workshops and has created a profile for the 3880 printers. While it is close it needs some further"tweaking" to get it more linear on my exact process conditions, That was one of the reason i moved to the mini mac to allow me to use all of the features in QTR/Print tool that were not available on Windows. I have also delayed jumping into the the newer Epson printers because they have not been "hacked" by Jon Cone or others to allow the use of his third party inks. I have used his inks for many years and they help keep my costs down. In addition I have read so many horror stories about pizza wheel marks with the newer epson printers I am somewhat concerned - never had that problem with the 3880.

Lastly I would love to know how the UV LED lights work out - I was looking at individual 3 watt UV LED's on amazon . However they would require a lot more soldering and a serious heat sink system (300W!) as well as a rather large DC power supply. The SMD strips would be somewhat simpler but have some of the same issues. Good luck on your testing.


Dave


Dave

 

[ced]

Not many masochists around. Nice work guys! Here is a recent gum print after a long layoff due to trying to improve my curve (If anyone has similar issues I can thoroughly recommend "TruNeg.com") for gum prints I was doubtful but his system came through after 2 iterations! I had to because of using cheapo inks on my printer resort to a UV colour blokker to get the highlight region to print. 4 Layers of Sennelier Lamp Black 1 HiLight, 1 MidTone & 2 Shadow. Paper Arches Grain Fine 300grm. Preshrunk & sized 2X with PvA-Gesso mix.

 

[fgorga]

Not many masochists around. Nice work guys! Here is a recent gum print after a long layoff due to trying to improve my curve (If anyone has similar issues I can thoroughly recommend "TruNeg.com") for gum prints I was doubtful but his system came through after 2 iterations! I had to because of using cheapo inks on my printer resort to a UV colour blokker to get the highlight region to print. 4 Layers of Sennelier Lamp Black 1 HiLight, 1 MidTone & 2 Shadow. Paper Arches Grain Fine 300grm. Preshrunk & sized 2X with PvA-Gesso mix.

@ced ... a very nice print!

I was a gum printer back about twenty years ago but gave it up due to concerns about the environmental costs of using dichromate. Thus I understand, all too well, the masochism involved!!!

I keep thinking about trying one of the dichromate-free updates but am having too much fun with salt prints (mainly) and other alt processes to jump back into the masochism pool again!

Things have been quiet around here lately. Hopefully activity will pick up again soon. Personally, the depths of winter are a slow time for alt process due to the low humidity in my workspace.

Regards,

--- Frank

 

[ced]

Frank, Thanks! Salt prints are great, need to have another bash myself. You may well try Calvin's "Wet Print" system if you want to remain eco.

 

[koraks]

Calvin's "Wet Print"

That's the name of his business that offers a range of products and printing services. The gum bichromate substitute product is called "Printmaker's Friend".

 

[nmp]

That's the name of his business that offers a range of products and printing services. The gum bichromate substitute product is called "Printmaker's Friend".

Now available at your favorite store.

 

[ced]

2 Gum Prints 1 neg. multiple layers. Image taken along the shore of the Deadsea.

 

[ced]

 

[NedL]

2 Gum Prints 1 neg. multiple layers. Image taken along the shore of the Deadsea.

Very nice!

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Those are excellent Ced. Hard to believe they are gum prints.