Re: Bleach-development with gum

[Keith Gerling <keith.gerling@gmail.com>]

Thanks.  I just coated an un-sized sheet and it is drying now and I'm concerned.  Does your 3M adhesive-mounted Masa pucker and wrinkle really bad?  A month ago, I tried mounting with gelatin (doesn't stand up to a long soak) and 3M.  I was having problems mounting it evenly, bu now with four hands (my son) I mounted several sheets with 3M spray.  The one I just coated was puckering before I could get the emulsion smoothed out.  I'm assuming these bubbles are from spots of paper not hit with spray, but if I spray any more it gets really messy.

On Dec 6, 2007 12:23 PM, Loris Medici <mail@loris.medici.name> wrote:

Hi Keith,

Yes it applies to multi-layer prints on Masa too. But I think there's
something wrong with my sizing method; I normally size using a 3% 250 Bloom
gelatin - sizing + hardening are both done in the same time (I add 1ml
formalin per 1g of gelatin into the solution before applying it to the
paper).

I decided to use a lower gelatin concentration after Christina's advice of
brushing harder and working the sizing into the paper's fibers - as I
understand it. Perhaps the higher concentration (combined with hard gelatin)
was making the surface too slick as Christina suggested.

Anyway, I just finished sizing few 1/4 sheets of Fabriano Artisico (no
Traditional and/or Extra White designation on the packaging) with 1%
gelatin, brushing vigorously -> will report how it went...

BTW, the bleach developed print also was done on unsized Fabriano Artistico.

Another note: Unsized Masa stains! (Fabriano too, but much less compared to
Masa...) So try it both sized and unsized, see for yourself. I may also size
few sheets of Masa later (with the new 1% concentration) if all goes well
with Fabriano.

Regards,
Loris.


From: Keith Gerling <keith.gerling@gmail.com>

Reply-To: < alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>

Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:59:50 -0600

To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>

Subject: Re: Bleach-development with gum

Hi Loris,

I'm finally getting around to working with Masa.  I noticed in this post
that you say you do not size?  Does that apply to your multicoat prints on
Masa as well?  I've spent a solid morning in a frigid workroom shrinking and
affixing Masa and I don't want to mess it all up.

thanks

Keith

On Dec 1, 2007 11:02 AM, Loris Medici < mail@loris.medici.name> wrote:
> Katharine,
>
> I got much better results - but there's still plenty of room for
> improvement methinks, will share them soon...
>
> But, the bleach I use is 55% sodium hypochlorite, not 5% as yours
> (many sodium hypochlorite based bleach brands in Turkey are 55%).
>
> For bleach development, I use 2x the amount of pigment I would
> normally use, I cut the dichromate to 1/2x (5%), and exposure is
> around 3x (or 4x if I find the coating is on the thick side).
>
> I use 20ml of 55% bleach per liter of water. I first rinse the print
> to get rid of the dichromate then put into bleach for 1 minute (face
> down), then I put into development water for 10 minutes, then I
> evaluate the print and put into bleach for another minute - if it acts
> in a lazy manner - and continue to develop in water.
>
> Actually I did a wonderful print yesterday but ruined it later because
> I was a little bit impatient and pulled it early in development (I
> should give it 5-10 minutes more) and when I left it for drying (flat)
> I got serious stain (in form of bleeding).
>
> I get best results on unsized paper. I get flaking with sized paper -
> I don't know why!? I never managed to make an acceptable print on
> sized paper (both 3% and 6%, hardened with formalin) - kind of a curse
> I guess...
>
> Anyway, even if the results are very good considering they're one-coat
> gums, their Dmax is still less than what I get from properly done
> 3-coats... Will try harder.
>
> Regards,
> Loris.
>