Spotting and dilution of ink

Hi,

I have a question about diluting the spotting inks. What to use for dilution?

If i use water, plain or distilled, i cannot control the flow and consistency of the ink. Around here and other forums people suggest using spit, same problem and it interferes with the archival qualities.
Acrylic resin a possibility?
One key thing here is the ability to reproduce the same color over and over again. Example one drop ink, one drop of dilution.

So what can i use to dilute my Marshall spot inks to have the archival quality and ability to control the dilution consistently?

Regards,

Leiska

I dilute the spot-tone or Marshall's with distilled water to which has been added a very tiny amount of photoflo.

I use toothpicks mostly, and try out the color on the border of the print where it will be hidden by the mattboard. Several applications are sometimes necessary, always working with more dilute mixtures than the color needed. Too dark stands out, looks horrible, and can't be fixed. Best to build up slowly and allow to dry completely before the next application. It tests my patience sometimes ... best thing is not to be in a hurry.

freecitizen said:

I dilute the spot-tone or Marshall's with distilled water to which has been added a very tiny amount of photoflo.

I use toothpicks mostly, and try out the color on the border of the print where it will be hidden by the mattboard. Several applications are sometimes necessary, always working with more dilute mixtures than the color needed. Too dark stands out, looks horrible, and can't be fixed. Best to build up slowly and allow to dry completely before the next application. It tests my patience sometimes ... best thing is not to be in a hurry.

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I've always used distilled water but if that doesn't work I'd try alcohol.

I have used everything from tap water, to distilled to de-ionised. I have even used water collected from the collection reservoir in a de-humidifyer. To be honest it doesn't really matter. The only thing I add to any water used to dilute is a minute touch of wetting agent. This allows easier penetration of the emulsion by the dye being used.

Leiska, welcome to Apug!

I do not understand what your are trying to hint at when you refer to control. More easy spreading and penetration or just mor viscosity? Or something else...

You might contact a manufacturer on your problem.

You can just use water. But spotting is not painting. You create dots or spots on the print. The denser the spot, the darker the shade and visa versa,

Like others, I use distilled water. It takes a very small amount of ink and very little water. I use the smallest paintbrush I could find and I trimmed off about half of the bristles. I use a white plastic painting palette and put a few drops of water off to the side, then dip the brush in the spottone and put that in its own spot. I'll drag it out so it's a stripe and then I'll add just a small amount of water to part of it. When I think I have the right shade, I'll dab it very lightly on the spot on the print. Usually, I try to make it a little lighter than I need it and I build it up gradually. It's easier to add than to take any away. You don't want much on the brush at any time - waaayyyy less than a drop.

Use a white china plate, Put a SMALL bit of spit or water on it. Spit works better than water. Spit works like a wetting agent and all pro spotters use it. Now with a fine brush pick up some of the color and dilute it in the spit/water. Work slowly you want to build up the darkness of the spot. Remember the intensity of the spot will change as it dries. In the amounts used the dyes is not toxic so you can point the brush between your lips. Work on some throwaway prints until you get a hang of the technique.

Invest in several red sable brushes from the finest size on up. They are worth the cost.

This is going to sound gross and very strange but I use mouth spit to water down the brush... I am still alive after 47 years of doing this.

It's astounding what we survive, isn't it??? All in the name of "get it done!" or, "just get the job done!"

Hi,

Firstly thank you for all the responses.

The control part is where the diluted ink does not separate and the color does not fade - best example is "metallic" paints, when you dilute those with water, the mixture separates into metal chips, water and the dye. When using water with ink the same separation happens and that can usually be controlled with right diluter (just don't know what to use as diluter that won't interfere with archival qualities). As for sticking the brush into mouth, that's just normal stuff - usually for reshaping the tip plus the LD - value is so minimal that the harm factor is next to none.

For the record, yes i do understand that this is not painting, but the same chemistry rules apply to the ink as paints - the application is the difference (painting vs. making small dots). My main concern is that i finish my darkroom print (toning, spotting, archiving/framing) and after some time the spotted parts could have a colourshift or fading.

Regards,

Leiska

We should not overlook that there are two groups of inks, those containing pigments and those containing only soluable dyes.

AgX said:

We should not overlook that there are two groups of inks, those containing pigments and those containing only soluable dyes.

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I use both , pure pigment for prints these days.

Some brands of paper are more difficult to retouch than others. My tap water is fairly soft, so it works fine. I strictly use Spotone (now Marshall). Haven't noticed any fading on older work. Blending them to get an exact dry-down match to a specific print area takes some experience. Real art store spotting brushes work a lot better than the cheap camera store kind.

I rarely have problems spotting FB paper. Some RC paper doesn't take spot toning well. I hate spotting with a passion so I try to keep my negs clean when I print in the darkroom.