Showcase for Your HCWP's

[AndrewBurns]

That is a really nice Kallitype - beautiful tonality. I really like the neutral toning.

Well... after thinking about it a long time I took the plunge and bought a B&S Pt/Pd kit. Spent a few days linearizing a profile in QTR and ran two test prints - both about 5X7. Both came out fairly good, Dmax could be a bit better - have a tray of water in the bottom of my cabinet where I humidify my paper so the humidity was about 50-55%. Printed on HPR with the Na2 process - having done some Kallitype in the past I found this process much simpler ( but a lot more expensive) .....want to try some gum over Pt/Pd. Watched a couple of Bill Schwab videos ( so sorry to learn of his passing) and it seems fairly straightforward. I have some 5% gold chloride around from toning Kallitypes, I read that adding a drop to the Pt/Pd sensitizer would increase contrast and maybe help Dmax - anyone have any experience with that?

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Those look great to me, first attempt or not (I wouldn't have been able to tell). About how much would the solution to make one of those prints cost? I've always heard people talk about the cost of Pt/Pd which makes sense given the materials but I've never actually looked into it enough to work out a per-print price. My current processes are so cheap that I've never even considered it.

Speaking of which here's another toned cyanotype, this one was originally a 35mm negative so this print represents a 14X enlargement, and I think it holds up pretty well.

 

[nmp]

so sorry to learn of his passing....

Ditto. This is the first time I heard about it. Over the years I have watched almost every one of his videos. Seemed pretty young.

:Niranjan.

 

[KYsailor]

Those look great to me, first attempt or not (I wouldn't have been able to tell). About how much would the solution to make one of those prints cost? I've always heard people talk about the cost of Pt/Pd which makes sense given the materials but I've never actually looked into it enough to work out a per-print price. My current processes are so cheap that I've never even considered it.

Speaking of which here's another toned cyanotype, this one was originally a 35mm negative so this print represents a 14X enlargement, and I think it holds up pretty well.

Andrew, that's a great enlargement. In my distant past I made conventional silver gelatin prints from 35mm and my limit seemed to be getting a good 8x10.... of course Tri-x in acufine or some other "exotic" developer helped.

I bought the Pt/Pd kit from B&S for about $175 and it is supposed to make about 25 8X10's so that works out to about $7 per 8X10, these were 5X7 so about half of that - but it is on HPR at about $3/sheet (11X15) so between the chems and paper - roughly $4.50 in materials/chems for the 5X7. I just wanted to give it a try since so many alt photo printers seem to gravitate to it.

I like the process enough that I am looking at buying the raw chemicals from Artcraft (chemical supply house in New York state) - I can probably save maybe 20-25% by mixing my own. I see the B&S kit is up to $225 now due to the run up on precious metal prices ( gold over $4K per ounce!)

I had been doing some gold toned Kallitypes, that had a great neutral tone, but at the end of the day - the process is more complicated and by the time you tone, I am not sure you are saving that much.

I do wish I could find a good neutral black toner/process for cyanotypes that doesn't stain - I have tried various tannins , tannic acid and some botanicals (coffe, sweet potato skins) but none of them have been to my liking. Others have shown good results with Oak gall and some other botanicals, should probably try some of them. I think my problems are linked to my choice of paper and probably over bleaching the originals.... anyway despite the high cost I enjoy the Pt/Pd process.

 

[KYsailor]

Ditto. This is the first time I heard about it. Over the years I have watched almost every one of his videos. Seemed pretty young.

:Niranjan.

Yes it is truly a shame, he was very dedicated to the art of alt photograpy printing, and was a real contributor to many of us just learning these processes. I heard he was leading a photo tour in Scotland and died of a heart attack.

 

[fgorga]

I do wish I could find a good neutral black toner/process for cyanotypes that doesn't stain -

Try tarragon in distilled water using Annette Golaz's method. It gives a nice neutral gray. I usually give a print a bit of extra exposure (say half a stop) when I intend to tone a cyanotype with tarragon.

Wattle (a traditional dyestuff) in distilled water also gives a fairly neutral print.

See https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/cyanotype-toning-options.207444/#post-2828187 for examples.

 

[AndrewBurns]

Andrew, that's a great enlargement. In my distant past I made conventional silver gelatin prints from 35mm and my limit seemed to be getting a good 8x10.... of course Tri-x in acufine or some other "exotic" developer helped.

I bought the Pt/Pd kit from B&S for about $175 and it is supposed to make about 25 8X10's so that works out to about $7 per 8X10, these were 5X7 so about half of that - but it is on HPR at about $3/sheet (11X15) so between the chems and paper - roughly $4.50 in materials/chems for the 5X7. I just wanted to give it a try since so many alt photo printers seem to gravitate to it.

I like the process enough that I am looking at buying the raw chemicals from Artcraft (chemical supply house in New York state) - I can probably save maybe 20-25% by mixing my own. I see the B&S kit is up to $225 now due to the run up on precious metal prices ( gold over $4K per ounce!)

I had been doing some gold toned Kallitypes, that had a great neutral tone, but at the end of the day - the process is more complicated and by the time you tone, I am not sure you are saving that much.

I do wish I could find a good neutral black toner/process for cyanotypes that doesn't stain - I have tried various tannins , tannic acid and some botanicals (coffe, sweet potato skins) but none of them have been to my liking. Others have shown good results with Oak gall and some other botanicals, should probably try some of them. I think my problems are linked to my choice of paper and probably over bleaching the originals.... anyway despite the high cost I enjoy the Pt/Pd process.

Thanks, the original negative was PanF shot at f1.4 or something as it was a very dark scene and I didn't have a tripod. It's not sharp but it's the kind of photo that doesn't need to be sharp anyway.

That is kinda expensive, extrapolating that out I'd get about 12 of my current size of print from that kit, which would be $18.75 USD per print at current pricing (about $34 NZD) not including the paper. Not cripplingly expensive if you're nailing every print, but not something I'd want to be throwing a lot away of.

I guess people gravitate towards it because it's a (relatively) simple process, very archival and gives a long tonal scale and a tunable black tone.

 

[nmp]

Yes it is truly a shame, he was very dedicated to the art of alt photograpy printing, and was a real contributor to many of us just learning these processes. I heard he was leading a photo tour in Scotland and died of a heart attack.

Yeah. Now I see there was a thread about his passing here that I missed. He was younger than me and looked very fit. Goes to show the fragility of life.

:Niranjan.

 

[KYsailor]

Try tarragon in distilled water using Annette Golaz's method. It gives a nice neutral gray. I usually give a print a bit of extra exposure (say half a stop) when I intend to tone a cyanotype with tarragon.

Wattle (a traditional dyestuff) in distilled water also gives a fairly neutral print.

See https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/cyanotype-toning-options.207444/#post-2828187 for examples.

Thanks Frank, I have seen many of your posts about toning cyanotype and should follow up on some of the methods you suggest. I will give tarragon a try - it's easy to obtain and I just need to get "around to it". I have a bag of birch catkins from my river birch and another of chopped up avocado seeds, both recommended by various posts I have read. On my list....

 

[bdial]

Cyanotype toned with tarragon. Made during Frank's recent workshop on cyanotype toning at Vermont Center for Photography.
Printed on Fabriano Unica