White Print/Diazotype printing?

Hello!

I have come across a 250 sheet 24x36" pack of white print/Diazotype paper. I also have access to the processer for it.

I am curious if it is worth trying contact printing with it. I would most likely be using enlarged negatives of lith material for the contacting, or digital negatives.

Is it a viable printing process?

My father, the architect where I got this paper from, has/had been using this process for years for his drawings.

Thanks!

-Josh

Also, I would like to add that this is for a school project. And that I don't mind the fading, they will be dark stored and only displayed briefly.

I used the stuff for years for making copies of my structural plans. It is only in the past five years that I have abandoned blueprints and gone to directly printing my work on large format printers.

If you have access to his blueprinting machine and enjoy the smell of ammonia, then you could create images with it. It will make a positive and is rather high in contrast, so I'm not sure how well you'll be able to create a full range of tones. A positive made from ortho-litho would work and you might even be able to use a single weight RC paper. For work I usually used either vellum or mylar, but I could slow the machine down enough to make copies from bond paper too.

I don't know if you can tone it the way you do a cyanotype. If the blue is not rich enough, then you can run the paper through the ammonia stage a second or third time and add density.

Give it a go and see what you get.

The slower the paper speed, the richer the colour. Blue, which was available in 5 speeds is a more permanent image than black. The major problem is paper quality. I have a couple of rolls of undeterminate age and the paper just falls apart.