RE: I see spots......
GOOD GOLLY, MISS MOLLY, This all seems rather difficult. I take any quintuple "zero" i.e. 00000 brush, pull out half of its hairs with tweezers (using a jeweler's lupe) and use it for spotting both prints and negs. Yes, after use I rinse it out with a few swishes in two baths of clean water and lay on its side to dry. I never worry about the quality of the brush because, when I touch it to the proper mix/tone of permanent water color, I spin the brush between two fingers while drawing it across the same paper stock as the print I am spotting (for negs, I use some fixed out/well washed film) until it forms a needle point and then spot away. Never had any problems and I complete my spotting very quickly. For negs I use Lithographer's opaque diluted with a small amount of water and a trace of Frotoflo (pun intended) which creates a reduction in surface tension that allows me to make the drop or ball of pigment on my brush even smaller which is perfect for making REALLY small dots on negs to fill in clear marks from dust. I see no reason to seek an expensive brush for this spotting. I feel that the only brush upon which any alt photographer should spend money is the Richeson. It has saved me LOTZA money because EVERY coating attempt has been successful since I have started using it. When I am coating for a 16X20 PT/PD image on 20X24 paper, screwing up gets VERY expensive VERY quickly so the cost of the Richeson pales by comparison. For spotting, any reasonably good 00000 brush has performed for me for over 10 years each. CHEERS! BOB ________________________________________ From: Ender100@aol.com [mailto:Ender100@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 7:58 PM To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Subject: I see spots...... Which I suppose is better than seeing dead people.... Anyway, My favorite spotting brush, Spotty, which was a gift to me some years ago from my sister, who uses them as her primary detail brush in her oils, has finally reached a "point" where continued use is actually "pointless" so to speak. Instead of giving Spotty a referral to the Hair Club for Men, I suppose I should just go out and buy a new one.... I use the brush for spotting Platinum/Palladium prints. Can you folks recommend a really good brush for this? I don't mind paying for quality. If I need a virgin wombat fur brush, that is fine. I want one that will hold a good, fine point, thus cutting down the time required for this, one of my favorite pastimes. Also, while I think of it, is there something I should do regarding the care and feeding of such a brush to keep a good fine point? I use tube type watercolors to spot. Your recommendations will be greatly appreciated! Best Wishes, Mark Nelson Precision Digital Negatives - The System PDNPrint Forum at Yahoo Groups www.MarkINelsonPhoto.com ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
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