Hi everyone,
I thought I'd share a couple of my recent VDB successes since I've learned so much on this forum. (I've made VDBs before but these are by far the best ones I've done yet.) As usual, these scans don't capture the texture of the actual prints very well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosensitive/326746740/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosensitive/326746692/in/photostream/
The descriptions of how I made the prints are in the Flickr posts.
The idea to coat the paper at a set RH value came from Buze's recent thread (thanks Sandy!). I humidified my kitchen to ~60-70% (I borrowed a hygrometer from the lab) using a pot of boiling water on the stove.
These 4x6" VDBs were made "on the cheap". I used digital negs generated from a curve I downloaded from the Alternative Photography site, printed on Pictorico OHP using my Epson C86 with cheap Chinese no-name inks from MIS. The light source was a single 13W compact spiral BLB in a metal reflector, another suggestion from Sandy from a while back. (Thanks x2 Sandy!) The paper was Fabriano Artistico, which seems to give good results and is quite inexpensive here. I coated the paper with a $4 Hake brush, let it dry for 30-60 mins before printing (shorter drying times gave shorter exposures but I think I may have lost some "scale" in the process).
The negs were pressed on the coated paper between two 1-cm sheets of glass (9x12") from the local glass shop. The BLB was about 8" from the paper, and with this setup I used a printing time of 10-13 min.
My next projects are (1) to mix up some AuCl3/thiourea toner and tone these puppies, (2) make my own curves, and (3) look into cheap ways of making a light source that can adequately cover 8x10".
I thought I'd share a couple of my recent VDB successes since I've learned so much on this forum. (I've made VDBs before but these are by far the best ones I've done yet.) As usual, these scans don't capture the texture of the actual prints very well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosensitive/326746740/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosensitive/326746692/in/photostream/
The descriptions of how I made the prints are in the Flickr posts.
The idea to coat the paper at a set RH value came from Buze's recent thread (thanks Sandy!). I humidified my kitchen to ~60-70% (I borrowed a hygrometer from the lab) using a pot of boiling water on the stove.
These 4x6" VDBs were made "on the cheap". I used digital negs generated from a curve I downloaded from the Alternative Photography site, printed on Pictorico OHP using my Epson C86 with cheap Chinese no-name inks from MIS. The light source was a single 13W compact spiral BLB in a metal reflector, another suggestion from Sandy from a while back. (Thanks x2 Sandy!) The paper was Fabriano Artistico, which seems to give good results and is quite inexpensive here. I coated the paper with a $4 Hake brush, let it dry for 30-60 mins before printing (shorter drying times gave shorter exposures but I think I may have lost some "scale" in the process).
The negs were pressed on the coated paper between two 1-cm sheets of glass (9x12") from the local glass shop. The BLB was about 8" from the paper, and with this setup I used a printing time of 10-13 min.
My next projects are (1) to mix up some AuCl3/thiourea toner and tone these puppies, (2) make my own curves, and (3) look into cheap ways of making a light source that can adequately cover 8x10".
