Ziatype and paper woes

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 3, 2016

After not printing Ziatypes for a while, I printed yesterday. Recently, the weather in my area has caused the air to be dry. About 38% humidity and everything is staticy.

The issue I been having is that after coating the paper and allowing the emulsion to dry. I allow it to dry enough not to stick to the negative. After the exposure, I noted patches of the print that are blurry due to the negative not having full contact with the paper. Otherwise, the print looks fine. I first thought it was my contact printer, but the cause is the emulsion causing the paper to pucker.

Today, I let the emulsion to dry even further on the paper. The puckering went away. But some of the prints came out lighter because the emulsion was too dry. I tried rehumidifying the paper and the problem went away. My question is if I humidify my paper before coating, will I avoid my paper puckering when I coat it?

Gerald C Koch · Jan 3, 2016

I don't consider myself an expert on alternative processes. But from what I have done the choice of paper is very important. Have you tried other brands of paper that might be less inclined to pucker?

You can also try adjusting the room humidity. This can be as simple as boiling a pot of water over a hotplate.

pschwart · Jan 3, 2016

Mainecoonmaniac said:
After not printing Ziatypes for a while, I printed yesterday. Recently, the weather in my area has caused the air to be dry. About 38% humidity and everything is staticy.

The issue I been having is that after coating the paper and allowing the emulsion to dry. I allow it to dry enough not to stick to the negative. After the exposure, I noted patches of the print that are blurry due to the negative not having full contact with the paper. Otherwise, the print looks fine. I first thought it was my contact printer, but the cause is the emulsion causing the paper to pucker.

Today, I let the emulsion to dry even further on the paper. The puckering went away. But some of the prints came out lighter because the emulsion was too dry. I tried rehumidifying the paper and the problem went away. My question is if I humidify my paper before coating, will I avoid my paper puckering when I coat it?

- What paper are you using? What is your drop count? 140 lb/300 gsm paper typically does not cockle or pucker when sensitized
- You do not want to overdry the paper for Ziatypes. Use a vapor barrier (like a piece of 8-1/2x11 film stock or OHP) behind the paper during exposure.
- Expose your negatives in 2 mil polypropylene bags or use mylar sheets and you will never need to worry about ruining them, and you won't be tempted to over-dry
sensitized papers.
- If you want to use lighter weight papers, after sensitizing you can flatten them for a minute in an unheated dry mount press
- A vacuum frame is nice, but it's not really necessary for prints up to about 11x14. You can try adding a piece of 2- or 4-ply mount board in your contact frame to increase
the pressure.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 3, 2016

Here's what I'm doing

pschwart said:
- What paper are you using? What is your drop count? 140 lb/300 gsm paper typically does not cockle or pucker when sensitized
- You do not want to overdry the paper for Ziatypes. Use a vapor barrier (like a piece of 8-1/2x11 film stock or OHP) behind the paper during exposure.
- Expose your negatives in 2 mil polypropylene bags or use mylar sheets and you will never need to worry about ruining them, and you won't be tempted to over-dry
sensitized papers.
- If you want to use lighter weight papers, after sensitizing you can flatten them for a minute in an unheated dry mount press
- A vacuum frame is nice, but it's not really necessary for prints up to about 11x14. You can try adding a piece of 2- or 4-ply mount board in your contact frame to increase
the pressure.

Thanks for the fast response. The paper I'm using is Revere Platinum.
Dead Link Removed

I'm coating with a Richerson Magic brush. I've never had this problem before. But I think I printed last spring when the air was more humid. I will run a test soon and report back.

pschwart · Jan 3, 2016

Mainecoonmaniac said:
Thanks for the fast response. The paper I'm using is Revere Platinum.
Dead Link Removed

I'm coating with a Richerson Magic brush. I've never had this problem before. But I think I printed last spring when the air was more humid. I will run a test soon and report back.

Your problem may be solved as soon as you run out of Revere Platinum It was discontinued due to chronic quality issues and hasn't been available for some time. Revere Platinum was modified a number of times, but lots of users reported blotchiness related to the sizing, and it could cockle when sensitized so a brush was more consistent than a rod.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 3, 2016

I've had good success with a glass rod. I just stared using a brush. Maybe re-coating areas with the brush causes the paper to pucker? With a glass rod I push the emulsion with just one pass.

pschwart · Jan 3, 2016

Mainecoonmaniac said:
I've had good success with a glass rod. I just stared using a brush. Maybe re-coating areas with the brush causes the paper to pucker? With a glass rod I push the emulsion with just one pass.

As I said, most 140 lb/300 gsm papers don't pucker. Try Platine or COT320 -- they are both superior to Revere for DOP or POP platinum/palladium. I always use a brush for this process and have no problems.
I generally only use a rod for sensitizing salt or albumen.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 3, 2016

Thanks for the tip

pschwart said:
As I said, most 140 lb/300 gsm papers don't pucker. Try Platine or COT320 -- they are both superior to Revere for DOP or POP platinum/palladium. I always use a brush for this process and have no problems.
I generally only use a rod for sensitizing salt or albumen.

I've got a stock of Revere. When I run out, I'll switch over to Arches Plantine. When that time comes, I'll have to recalibrate my process.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 9, 2016

A report back. So I created a humidification chamber and humidified my Revere paper at 72% at 68 degrees F. I left my paper in the chamber for 12 hrs and coated my paper with the Ziatype emulsion and allowed to dry and exposed and process the Ziatype.

What I found that the puckering went away. So tell me if I'm interpreting this correctly. So when the air was really dry, around 32% humidity and coated the paper and allowed to dry enough to make a print, the paper puckered.

My guess is that if the coated area which is wetter while the uncoated area is much dryer, the paper will pucker. I think a higher humidity environment, the uncoated areas is closer in moisture content to the coated making the coated parts of the paper less likely to pucker.

Is this a correct assumption?

Bob Carnie · Jan 9, 2016

We tried some COT320 to see how it compared to Arches Platine.. very nice paper you can get it from Omer at Cat Labs near you.

Mainecoonmaniac said:
I've got a stock of Revere. When I run out, I'll switch over to Arches Plantine. When that time comes, I'll have to recalibrate my process.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 9, 2016

Thanks for the recommendation

Bob Carnie said:
We tried some COT320 to see how it compared to Arches Platine.. very nice paper you can get it from Omer at Cat Labs near you.

Arches Plantine has a good reputation in the art world. I'm gonna go through my stock of Revere paper first. Btw. Love your YouTube videos on your lab!

Best,
Don

pschwart · Jan 10, 2016

Mainecoonmaniac said:
A report back. So I created a humidification chamber and humidified my Revere paper at 72% at 68 degrees F. I left my paper in the chamber for 12 hrs and coated my paper with the Ziatype emulsion and allowed to dry and exposed and process the Ziatype.

What I found that the puckering went away. So tell me if I'm interpreting this correctly. So when the air was really dry, around 32% humidity and coated the paper and allowed to dry enough to make a print, the paper puckered.

My guess is that if the coated area which is wetter while the uncoated area is much dryer, the paper will pucker. I think a higher humidity environment, the uncoated areas is closer in moisture content to the coated making the coated parts of the paper less likely to pucker.

Is this a correct assumption?

There are lots of tricks you can employ. Examples: You can lightly brush your paper with several drop of water before sensitizing to increase the residual moisture in a low humidity environment, or you might consider a humidifier for your work space so your paper is always reafy.

Ziatype and paper woes

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