What's the BIGGEST Kallitype/Alt print you've ever made?

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 24, 2008

It took me a while, but I was finally able to make a 16x20 kallitype. After giving up on enlarged digital negatives (crap), I enlarged a 4x5 negative onto 16x20 APHS film and then contacted printed that positive onto another sheet of 16x20 APHS. All developed in LC-1B at 1+5 dilution. That part was easy. The difficult part was brushing on a smooth coating of sensitizer without pooling. I used Rising Stonehenge paper. I'm quite pleased with it and am now enlarging an 8x10 negative...
So, what's the biggest Kalitype or other Alt process print you've made? What did you learn?

Keith Taylor · Mar 24, 2008

Largest alt print

Andrew O'Neill said:
So, what's the biggest Kalitype or other Alt process print you've made? What did you learn?

It was a 40" x 14" panoramic platinum print - using a whole sheet of Platine paper. What did I learn? Something, because I haven't tried it since...

Keith.

clay · Mar 24, 2008

I've been making lots of palladium prints on full sheets (22x29) of Kozo lately. Image area is roughly 16x25. Main issue is handling a tray full of 5 liters of clearing solution. Contrary to your experience, I am finding the [REDACTED] to behave quite nicely. What method were you... oops, never mind. That would be a hybrid forum question. What I meant to say is that this guy I know, about my height, weight and eye and hair color has been using dig it** negatives to print on large sheets of Kozo. He claims it is working fine. I'm sure he is full of shyte, though.

David A. Goldfarb · Mar 24, 2008

I've made a couple of 11x14" albumens. Normally I coat a sheet slightly larger than 11x14" to cut down to 8x10" or smaller, but if I have a particularly nice looking sheet, I might try an 11x14" on it, just to see how it looks. I think I'm ready now to start coating 16x20" sheets to cut down to 11x14" and 7x17", which are my biggest neg sizes.

I've seen some 20x24" albumen prints made by John Dugdale and Daniel Levin. Daniel said the first time he tried coating that big (larger actually, to cut down to 20x24"), he was standing there with a big sheet of paper dripping with egg white, one corner in each hand, and not quite sure how to clip it to the drying line.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 24, 2008

I'm about to attempt 11x14 tintypes. I've also done 7x15 palladium triptychs (3 5x7 negs lined up together) which is quite a challenge on 12x20" paper, the biggest hassle of course being getting the film to stay aligned.

photomc · Mar 24, 2008

From what I hear that guy Clay was talking about, is the one I would send a PM to.

But then, I might full of shyte as well..but one of these days I need to sit down with him and look at some of those prints he is making.

tom_micklin · Mar 24, 2008

Andrew O'Neill said:
So, what's the biggest Kalitype or other Alt process print you've made? What did you learn?

I make almost all of my Kallitypes 11x14. The largest I've done is 12x16.
What I've learned is that I would prefer to make them all 16x20 but I don't have the working space in my apartment. Plus I would need a larger exposure unit.
Tom

philldresser · Mar 24, 2008

I've only gone to 10x8 with Kallitypes and Cyanotypes. Quite small in comparison to some

Phill

doughowk · Mar 24, 2008

For contact printing, largest Kallitype has been 7X17 from in-camera neg. Don't plan on going any larger. Have done Liquid Emulsion up to 16X20 but that's with my 4X5 enlarger.

smieglitz · Mar 24, 2008

If photograms count I've made cyanotypes 22" x 30" on paper and 9' x 9' on muslin.

Joe

dmax · Mar 24, 2008

11x14 (image size) albumen and van dyke brown prints from negatives enlarged onto APHS lith film. Twice I tried printing full-sized 16x20 cyanotypes (again from enlarged negs) just to test the usefulness of my ancient E. and H.T. Anthony 18x22 contact printing frame. Coating large sheets with cyanotype or Van Dyke Brown is not too much of a problem for me, but working with albumen sizes larger than 8x10 and the subsequent need to sensitize with silver nitrate does raise the failure rates quite a bit. Specially since I live in a crowded apartment overrun with what my wife scathingly describes as my "photo junk"!

Katharine Thayer · Mar 24, 2008

A series of 30x40" gum prints.

Zebra · Mar 24, 2008

I shoot a 20 x 24 camera and print those in camera negatives in Pt/Pd and Pt/Pd Gumovers. I also shoot 20 x 24 Ambrotypes and Tintypes. What have I learned. Hmmmmm? That ether on a sheet of tin or piece of glass that big smells rilly, rilly, rilly good ddduuuuudddddeeeee. And that collodion spills easily. And that mistakes are expensive. And that you have to buy a lot more of everything. And that when you do it right (rarely in my case) there is nothing greater than a 20 x 24 gumover unless its a well done (again rarely in my case) 20 x 24 ambrotype.

I wouldn't trade big for all the world.

hope you enjoy

Monty

boyooso · Mar 24, 2008

I"ve been making quite a few 20x24 PTPD prints lately, and just made a few 24X30's As with Clay, I've been using a japanese kozo paper which dramatically improves the paper handling problems on prints of that size. Large Flat bottom trays also help other papers stay together more than you might think.

But, by far, the most important thing usually is being at piece with your materials and process. Stay calm & focused

Corey

sanking · Mar 25, 2008

I have made quite a number of 20X24" kallitype and pallaidum prints, and a few carbon ones. I find it a hassle to make prints this large because my working space is fairly small and the sinks won't accept 20X24" trays. For that reason I have adopted single tray processing, which takes more time and energy but saves a lot on space.

All of my work this size is done with in-camera negatives.

What have I learned from making prints this size? Basically, it is much easier to make smaller prints, and they take up a lot less storage space.

Sandy King

What's the BIGGEST Kallitype/Alt print you've ever made?

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What's the BIGGEST Kallitype/Alt print you've ever made?

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