U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: fixing van dyke brown AHEM!!!!!

Re: fixing van dyke brown AHEM!!!!!



Oh Christina,

Just over 10 years ago I was in a real pickle and asked this list this very
same question. I had a class of students and no sodium thiosulphate crystals
(it hadn't arrived yet, beginning of the year and all that). For the life of
me I couldn't think what dilution of Hypam to use to fix our Van Dyke
prints. If it's any consolation to you - I didn't get an answer then either
and it was, like, 1996.

Probably the worst part of the story is that I can't remember what I did in
the end. It was an emergency but I don't remember what dilution I used or if
any prints survived the test. (I've probably blocked out the whole awful
drama!)

So that's why I didn't respond, guilt, bad memory and shame.... sorry

Catherine
PS I reckon I would have done what you did though.

From: "Christina Z. Anderson"
Subject: fixing van dyke brown AHEM!!!!!


> Well, I'm going to pull a Michael Koch-Schulte on y'all and grump about NO
> answers to my fixing van dyke brown question, except one nice person
> offlist.  Am I chopped liver?  Is everyone comatose? I can't believe no
one
> does VDB lately. Are y'all just too busy doing GUM for heaven's sake? Or
it
> must be that dreaded solarplate.  At least my question didn't deal with
> tonal inversion...
>
> My original query:
>
> VDB requires a 2 minute 2-5% sodium thiosulfate bath fix....I was
wondering
> if any of you get
> by with diluting regular rapid fix, and if so, how much.
>
> Well, I went ahead today and just did it.  Thank heavens I don't have to
> test hydrochloric acid and pt/pd at the same time--thanks, Bob, for that
one
> and I can't wait to hear the results.  I diluted paper strength fix by
half
> and I did not see any bleaching.  Am I the only one that sees it this way?
> Or maybe it is just on Weston that it doesn't bleach?  I fixed for 2
> minutes, after a 2 minute water bath.
>
> The Weston paper is stupendous for VDB--rich, velvety bittersweet
chocolate
> tones, very deep.  Next to Arches Platine it is so much better
> looking--Platine seems greyish to me.  Convincing enough to have students
> decide to use it instead of Platine. Convincing enough to look like a
"poor
> man's palladium" in a sense.
>
> The one thing you have to watch out for in Weston, though, is not to touch
> the surface while wet because the top layer will abrade off.  It is very
> delicate--somewhat like using a Japanese paper but thicker. But not as
thick
> as Crane's Cover. But I may have already said all this in a previous
email.
>
> Did I also say it was made from recycled blue jeans?
>
> Thank heavens my class moves into gum next week so I can get back to my
> process of choice.
>
> Chris
>
> CZAphotography.com
>
>
>