Starting out in Alt Proc: Best strategies for buying paper to coat?

[Adam W]

I've had very good results with Arches Aquarelle Hot Press for both cyanotype and VDB. No sizing needed. It's by far my paper of choice.

 

[nmp]

No luck today. I don't know if it is the old chemistry, the uneven cloud cover, the paper or my negatives. Probably a combination of the old chemistry and not enough UV. When I mixed the A&B solutions, there was a murky residue in the bottom of the cup.

I need to build an LED box and order fresh chemicals.

Tried coating the two papers in the below photos; had no faith in the cheap, dollar store paper, but wanted to try it anyway.

Surprisingly, it probably would have worked out if I had got a good exposure on the paper. I put an Brownie negative in the contact frame with the "Crown Jewelz" Sketch Pad Paper, and the borders came out fairly even, but clearly not enough through the negative at 35 minutes.

View attachment 361893 View attachment 361894

I grabbed the paper out of the water as the image floated off and took the above picture, but the image washed out completely in 5 minutes.

The Canson XL is practically blank because the negative covered the entire paper surface; only a few details managed to register and those pretty much disappeared with washing.

View attachment 361895 View attachment 361896

The Crown Jewelz is on the left, the Canson XL is in the middle and on the right. The rightmost bit of paper was a scrap I coated and stuck push pins through as a test strip for 10 minutes. As I said, the clouds are blowing through with pockets of bright sunlight occasionally; the test sheet was in full sunlight.

I kept checking exposures on the Canson, but it never seemed to increase beyond the density above, so I threw caution to the wind and processed them both.

BTW, all were splashed with Hydrogen Peroxide after washing.

All in all, not a success, but now I at least have a notion of what it takes to coat the paper and expose it.

Edit: the paper I used...

View attachment 361906

XL is a particularly "hard" paper meaning it is sized to retain watercolor on the surface longer. May be that's why student like it - if you make a mistake you can just lift it off. You might need to use a surfactant like T-20 which will help the sensitizer to sink in the paper better reducing the probability of it being carried off in the wash.

:Niranjan.

 

[awty]

XL is a particularly "hard" paper meaning it is sized to retain watercolor on the surface longer. May be that's why student like it - if you make a mistake you can just lift it off. You might need to use a surfactant like T-20 which will help the sensitizer to sink in the paper better reducing the probability of it being carried off in the wash.

:Niranjan.

Agreed. Some papers are a lot of hard work to get to work well.
The uv here is in the extreme zone more days than not, so I just about always use the sun, it's a bit faster.

 

[Kino]

Better results today. 35 minute exposure direct morning sun. Same chemistry and paper, so it must have been the cloud cover...

 

[koraks]

Ah, there we go. Looking good!

must have been the cloud cover

Yup, clouds (=water) are pretty good at filtering out UV.

 

[Kino]

I just coated some more XL paper; some presoaked in plain distilled water, some in distilled water + ascorbic acid and the rest just dry.

Interested to see how this affects the image...

 

[BrianShaw]

View attachment 361908 View attachment 361909 View attachment 361910


I've had very good results with Arches Aquarelle Hot Press for both cyanotype and VDB. No sizing needed. It's by far my paper of choice.

Love it… especially the G.O.A.T.

Last time I alt printed it was an Arches hot press that I was happiest using for cyanotype and gum bi. Don’t recall which exact paper, though.

 

[Kino]

One thing I discovered today about Canon XL paper (at least for my circumstances); don't pre-soak your paper in water and ascorbic acid; don't even soak it water before you coat it.

The ascorbic acid kicks-in a sort of fogging and blows your contrast range; see below. The image looks highly solarized when it comes out of the printing frame. Actually, it looks better unprocessed!

I had the best results just coating the paper dry. I actually triple-coated the paper this time and plan on doing so in the future.


Ascorbic acid treatment on left and dry coating on right.

 

[revdoc]

The ascorbic acid kicks-in a sort of fogging and blows your contrast range; see below. The image looks highly solarized when it comes out of the printing frame. Actually, it looks better unprocessed!

I think ascorbic acid will convert the ferric iron in the sensitiser to ferrous iron, which is what UV does during exposure. Hence the fog.

If you want to acidify the paper, citric or acetic acid will do the job. I prefer acetic because any residual acid evaporates when the paper dries, but really, both are fine.

 

[Kino]

I think ascorbic acid will convert the ferric iron in the sensitiser to ferrous iron, which is what UV does during exposure. Hence the fog.

If you want to acidify the paper, citric or acetic acid will do the job. I prefer acetic because any residual acid evaporates when the paper dries, but really, both are fine.

I intended to use citric acid, but got lazy (and curious) when I saw the ascorbic acid on the shelf.

Lesson learned.

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

Great prints; the classic cyanotype is IME more receptive to toning than the newer oxalate version but beware fogging the highlights. Coffee and tea are common formulas but yerba mate is pretty good too.

 

[Kino]

Getting closer to what I want.

After ordering fresh chemicals from Artcraft, I left the Ferric Ammonium Citrate at 100 grams for Solution "A", but increased the Solution "B" Potassium Ferricyanide - Green to 80mg from 40 (500ml total each solution).

I did not dope with 1% Dichromate this time, but will try that tomorrow to see what happens.

Both shots were coated on dry paper; no pre-treatment.

30 minute exposure direct evening Sun (LED strips are still on order).

Still would like a bit more density, but the detail seems to be there.

Will try extending exposure to 40 and 50 minutes tomorrow, provided we have clear skies and no clouds.

First photo is with Canson XL cold press 300gms and the second with Strathmore cold press 300gms. Both exhibit a bit more texture than I like, but I was surprised the Strathmore surface held-up better than the Canson, as it appears more textured before coating.

Sorry for the same images again and again, but I am trying to dial this in for my situation and need apples to apples.

 

[Dan Dozer]

I don't do a lot of cyanotype printing but have done some. I found that the new Cyanotype formula gives better image results than the old classic formula, but it is a little more involved in mixing the chemicals up. Also, the new formula is much more finicky about the paper you are using. If the cyanotype emulsion turns green instead of yellow when it dries, the paper doesn't work. Not sure why as I never got into pre sizing or coating the paper with something before coating with the emulsion, but that was my experience. The better (more expensive) papers worked better and I never had to pre-coat them with anything.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

For years, I battled with which paper to use, which is economical, etc... I gave up and went for Hahnemuhle PR and Reeves Platinum. No size required for all the processes I use... cyanotype, gum, gum overs, kallitype, salt (just started playing with this wonderfully easy process). Only Carbon has to be sized.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

Twinrocker in Indiana, USA. Hand Makes very nice paper, buts it’s very expensive. I have used with salt prints with no issues. When I printed lithography many years ago, my final edition was with their paper. I saved some, which I found recently, and tried with salt. There are no “side effects” with their internal sizing. And they do not carbonate buffer their paper. They offer samples hot press or . . . Try it out