While making emulsion... oops!

[jsmithphoto1]

So, last night I decided to hog the bathroom when everyone went to sleep and make some emulsion. My goal was the emulsion in Kodak AJ-12, just a half batch. Everything was going well, hotplate was keeping temperature 129-131F (held steady at 131F when adding AgNO3), chemicals were mixing well, my Ebay AgNO3 solution was not discolored, although just the slightest hazy when it dissolved. I'm assuming gases in the water? It cleared up in no time, though! I had it warm and setting in a water bath (MISTAKE!) and decided to lose my genius for a moment in time and add the silver solution to the gelatin with an eyedropper instead of the hypodermic needle I had RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Well, needless to say my hand hit the container of AgNO3 the wrong way and it spilled into the water bath and the warm tap water made its way into the solution as well. I got about half the solution, about 10g AgNO3, in the gelatin. My question is... before I wash the emulsion... should I make a small solution with the rest of the silver I have or will it make a decent print without additional nitrate?

I have seen formulas for the same amount of KI, KBr, and gelatin and near half the amount of silver, so that does shed a LITTLE hope ha.

Thanks, experts!

 

[Photo Engineer]

And the answer is: I have no idea!!!!!

Sorry.

I've done the same thing, in front of witnesses!

PE

 

[jsmithphoto1]

Well, I guess it's "rollin' with the punches" from here Thanks for the input! Every experience is a learning experience and now I know not to do that again haha.

Oh no! How do you cope with that? Lol I felt like I could just kick myself in the stomach for it was so avoidable! To err is human

 

[railwayman3]

One of my Grandad's sayings...."a man who never made a mistake never made anything". I still remember it, whenever I mess up with something.

 

[jsmithphoto1]

It's been a while, but I finally got to test my emulsion the other day. Somewhat disappointed, but I realize where I went wrong... 1) I spilled half the silver down the drain. 2) I didn't realize how slow the emulsion was and underexposed it. 3) tried using expired foma paper developer. Stuff was mixed fresh from powder, but anyone with experience with Foma knows their packaging really isn't oxygen proof. But, tonight I made some fresh Ansco 103 from scratch and it developed quicker and was MUCH more darker, but still somewhat thin. I am thinking I may be able to fix the "thinness" of the print on the glass by adding another layer of emulsion. Still, I am sure it would have been better with all of the silver nitrate solution! LOL.

Also, thanks so much Ron and others who have placed some input into this method and have left valuable resources and articles on the process.

ALSO! I have played around with a couple variables on washing the plate and have learned some very valuable information! I did NOT use a hardener, rather, I rinsed with cold water. Nothing happened at all with the emulsion and there was hardly, if any, fray on the edges. But I have learned that you BETTER NOT touch the emulsion AT ALL until it's dry! Also, warm (even lukewarm) water is your worst nightmare! I am sure it's not as bad with the hardener, but just wanted to leave a helpful hint from a kitchen scientist

EDIT: When I said the emulsion is slow, that was no joke! I had exposed a plate, in a well lit room, for about 30 seconds and commenced to develop under white light. It developed, of course, but I seen the images from the film I had used to make a contact on a plate before the whole thing obviously turned black. All of this in white light.

This was surely an AMAZING experience and I can't wait to get started on much more in the future and hopefully learn new techniques and formulas!!!

 

[dwross]

Congrats on your start!

I don't know what version of AJ-12 you are using, but I have directions for my adaptation of it, if that is of interest. Works very well, and you should be able to get ISO 1-6 from it. One good thing to know about colorblind (no spectral sensitization) emulsions: They don't see all light the same. Actually, they only see UV and blue-violet. So, even if your light bulbs seem bright, they may be nearly invisible to your plates. Hopefully, by "well lit", you mean nice and sunny. Even so, depending on the f-stop you used, 30 seconds isn't out of line for AJ-12. Changing out KBr for ammonium bromide helps a bit with the speed, but since a tripod is involved regardless, its probably doesn't matter .

http://www.thelightfarm.com/cgi-bin/htmltutgen.py?content=04Mar2013 (KBr recipe)
http://www.thelightfarm.com/cgi-bin/htmltutgen.py?content=15Jun2013 (AmBr recipe)

 

[Photo Engineer]

Jamison, you might want to try the formula that Mark Osterman has posted and that is in my book. It has a true blue only speed of ISO 1 - 2 and we have made some super plates from it. It has been used so much that I think literally thousands of plates are out there right now.

Nick and I are working on an upgrade which should be ISO 25 and should be green sensitive. It is very quick and easy to make. They intend a future workshop feature this emulsion.

AJ-12 is a fine emulsion when made well. With the full amount of silver nitrate you should get a lot more speed and contrast.

Best wishes.

PE