UK chemical suppliers?

mrtoml

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Hi

I am starting out in alt processes using cyanotype and the argyrotype kit from Fotospeed.

I am interested to try salt and and other methods (kallitype and VDB for instance).

Are there any reliable suppliers of the chemistry in the UK?

Thanks.
 

richyd

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Unfortunately since the demise of Wetplate supplies, I can't think of any UK supplier that sells ready made kallitype or VDB. A few years ago I started with Kallitype and I think I got pre-mixed solutions from someone in Lithuania via eBay (quick check still available). For VDB, tartaric acid acid and silver nitrate can now be sourced from ebay. At that time, you could buy kits and raw chemicals from Europe but that path is now closed. I settled on argyrotype, have used the Fotospeed kit but like to mix own.
 
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mrtoml

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Thank you both. I will try those.
 

koraks

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Definitely try eBay sellers. Last time I looked (which is some time ago) there were quite a few UK-based sellers of chemistry. Not all aimed specifically at photography/printing, but that doesn't matter. In fact, I'd recommend not specifically looking for sellers/retailers who focus on these applications, but just look for the chemicals you need.

For salted paper, the salt itself you get from the local supermarket, and the silver nitrate from whomever has the best offer at this point. You don't need extremely pure silver nitrate for this purpose; generic 'technical grade' will do fine. It appears that there's currently a seller of silver nitrate in Italy; it's possible that even with shipping and duties/taxes the price per gram ends up cheaper than if you source locally.

Kallitype is often a bit of a challenge due to the ferric ammonium oxalate, which is kind of difficult to get. But the prints are very similar to Van Dyke, which uses commonly and cheaply available ferric ammonium citrate - the same stuff you use for classic cyanotype.
 
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mrtoml

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Thanks it looks like ebay is the way to go.
 

st1

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Duboscq159 said:
Try https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/jacobseye he also does chemical sales by email. Find him here https://johnbrewerphotography.com/wpsales.

Also https://apcpure.com/ for general Salts etc.

Hope this helps
Sven
Click to expand...

I don't know what's involved in cyanotype etc but I can second Dubosq159 - apcpure.com have supplied me with quite a few obscure/outdated chemicals for silver halide processes, it helps though if you have a registered company if anything you need is unusually hazardous.
 
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mrtoml

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I eventually bought some coating rods and VDB solution from pilvuzass on ebay (Lithuanian). He combined postage costs and it took about a week to arrive in the UK.
 

cliveh

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I no longer do alternative processes and maybe able to help you here. I live in England and could post you some chemicals that may help for certain processes. pm me with more info and will tell you what I have.
 
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