UGH!!!? quick "new" cyanotype question/problem

[scootermm]

Im fairly new to cyanotype printing. I purchased the New Cyanotype dry chemical kit from photoformulary and was down mixing it up..... following all the instructions like a champ......
except I made the mistake of adding the Citric Acid powder to the 30ml(+/-) solution. Everything else was done exactly right..... just somehow ended up adding the citric acid at the end for some reason.... brain fart I guess.
here is what the PDF file list the citric acid as doing....

CLEARING AGENT
The addition of a solution of citric acid to the sensitizer just before coating will greatly speed up clearing of the image. First, make a 40% solution by adding the packet to enough water to make 25 ml of solution. Add one drop to each 2 ml of sensitizer solution for each print. Keep this additive separate from the sensitizer because when combined it will shorten its shelf life.


in adding the citric acid accidentally to the stock mixture have I inadvertantly RUINED my $20 introduction to Alt processes?

confusedly yours,
scooter "the mistake magnet"

 

[Jon King]

I don't think it is ruined - try it and see. If the citric acid concentration the way you have added it is greater than what they intended in the instructions, the solution should be less contrasty, requiring a more dense negative for best results.

I don't know how or how fast the stock will go bad with citric acid added, but here is a hint or two I've read and personally confirmed

When you coat it and let it dry, the coating should be yellow. If it is noticably green or worse, blue, the print will be fogged, since the color shift is due to some of the chemicals already converting to Prussian Blue.

I've mixed the sensitizer from raw chemicals, so I am varying the dichromate concentration, which does increase the sensitizer concentration, but I just recently got some citric acid, and haven't tried it yet, either in the sensitizer or as a first bath.
I have problems with slight fogging, so next time I print cyanotypes, I am going to try adding citric acid - I've got 10 5x7 negatives to develop for cyanotypes on my 'to do list' I'm still working toward a cyanotype I am totally happy with but I'll post my first 'decent' cyanotype in my gallery.

Two sites I've found useful for 'New' Cyanotype are Mike Ware's site: http://www.mikeware.co.uk and
http://www.wynnwhitephoto.com/cyan_notes.html - Wynn White's notes on New Cyanotype printing.


Jon

 

[scootermm]

I must have done something wrong in the process..... either not kept the solution up to tempature or mixed incorrectly but nonetheless I was left with a fogged print.... yet still recognizable.
I was using only a single BL 65 watt bulb about 8" above the print. (as thats all I have at present) and the exposure time was well over 40mins.

will keep plugging away. Ive reordered an additional Cyanotype kit to try mixing again to see if it was the citric acid addition that messed up the process.