Hello,
I'm in the process of making several big bromoils for an exhibition (to be held hopefuly next month). The prints are mostly sized from 20x20 to 30x40 and so on.... I do not use bromoil papers, I make my own papers with liquid emulsion.
I use Neutol WA as developer, Agefix for fix. Then I bleach the images with standard bleach for bromoils and refix the prints. Fixer and developer are non hardening, liquid emulsion is non hardened.
The prints are generally fine, I use Graphic inks.
I have only one problem on some prints.
After the print has been bleached and dried, I soak the paper into water. Then I blot the water away (both sides) and start inking. I do use brushes, sponges, rollers. The problem is that there are some areas (spots of 1-3 centimeters wide) on which ink refuses to adhere. Sometimes the spots are roughly circular/oval shaped, sometimes the shape is random, sometimes thin (half cm) and long (3-4cm) like a small "river". Whatever they look like, after I have inked the image they will always appear lighter (sometimes white) than the surrounding areas. In landscapes I can easily retouch those spots to make them like foliage, clouds, water, grass... But with architecture and portraiture is literally a pain...
The problem does not always occur... I'd say it happens in one print on every two or three. Sometimes is just a couple of spots, sometimes is an hepidemy. I've been able to "save" most of my prints from this nuisance, but today, for example, I had to throw away two big 30x40 prints because I couldn't fix and finished to ruin the whole thing. (I did not really trashed the prints, I hardly do that, but still I don't think I will be able to fix them for display).
I thought in the beginning that it was necessary to soak the prints in water more. I usually soak the prints for 10-15 minutes at 20°C (ambient temp). I tried for 5' and 30' and did not see any change. I prefer using 10-15' soaking time because the inking goes better at this stage. With 30' does not improve significantly and the spots are still there.
The only thing I noticed is that the spots tend to appear in light areas. With high key images there's a lot of them. On other images is more likely that they will appear on the sky for example. I don't thin I ever seen one in dark areas.
I thought then it could be the bleach. But the spots have appeared also on paper bleached with fresh chemistry. Perhaps I should mix the dichromate bleah before use instead diluting a stock solution everytime. I shake the stock solution before diluting, anyway.
Could it be something related to the chemical side? Or just to the way the prints are dried before soaked and inked? I can't hang them, I dry my prints on a custom made tray system.
What do you think it could be?
Thanks
I'm in the process of making several big bromoils for an exhibition (to be held hopefuly next month). The prints are mostly sized from 20x20 to 30x40 and so on.... I do not use bromoil papers, I make my own papers with liquid emulsion.
I use Neutol WA as developer, Agefix for fix. Then I bleach the images with standard bleach for bromoils and refix the prints. Fixer and developer are non hardening, liquid emulsion is non hardened.
The prints are generally fine, I use Graphic inks.
I have only one problem on some prints.
After the print has been bleached and dried, I soak the paper into water. Then I blot the water away (both sides) and start inking. I do use brushes, sponges, rollers. The problem is that there are some areas (spots of 1-3 centimeters wide) on which ink refuses to adhere. Sometimes the spots are roughly circular/oval shaped, sometimes the shape is random, sometimes thin (half cm) and long (3-4cm) like a small "river". Whatever they look like, after I have inked the image they will always appear lighter (sometimes white) than the surrounding areas. In landscapes I can easily retouch those spots to make them like foliage, clouds, water, grass... But with architecture and portraiture is literally a pain...
The problem does not always occur... I'd say it happens in one print on every two or three. Sometimes is just a couple of spots, sometimes is an hepidemy. I've been able to "save" most of my prints from this nuisance, but today, for example, I had to throw away two big 30x40 prints because I couldn't fix and finished to ruin the whole thing. (I did not really trashed the prints, I hardly do that, but still I don't think I will be able to fix them for display).
I thought in the beginning that it was necessary to soak the prints in water more. I usually soak the prints for 10-15 minutes at 20°C (ambient temp). I tried for 5' and 30' and did not see any change. I prefer using 10-15' soaking time because the inking goes better at this stage. With 30' does not improve significantly and the spots are still there.
The only thing I noticed is that the spots tend to appear in light areas. With high key images there's a lot of them. On other images is more likely that they will appear on the sky for example. I don't thin I ever seen one in dark areas.
I thought then it could be the bleach. But the spots have appeared also on paper bleached with fresh chemistry. Perhaps I should mix the dichromate bleah before use instead diluting a stock solution everytime. I shake the stock solution before diluting, anyway.
Could it be something related to the chemical side? Or just to the way the prints are dried before soaked and inked? I can't hang them, I dry my prints on a custom made tray system.
What do you think it could be?
Thanks
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