U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: cyanotype question

Re: cyanotype question

Hi Judy,

That's an interesting observation. I think my problem was closer to the inadvertently lower gelatin used. I sized and printed again in the same comparative cold temperatures, and everything was fine-- back to normal-- though I think next summer, I'll size a huge batch, so I don't have to worry about winter.

As an aside, I feel that I am a "serious printer;" but I sure don't have a "temperature/humidity controlled studio." I'm thinking you have to be selling your work consistently, and at very high prices, to have that in place, and/or be living on a trust fund. I suppose there's a well-paying job one could have also, but would he or she then also qualify as a "serious printer?" My house, which I actually like a lot, isn't even "temperature/humidity controlled."




On Dec 13, 2008, at 2:42 PM, Judy Seigel wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
Loris,
I think alt is full of contradictions, and especially cyanotype, because of paper and humidity. When I lived in the South everything went so smoothly, but two things bugged me: how long it took the paper to not feel "limp", and how more quickly dark reaction set in to a gum layer.
This reminds me that when the list was speculating on Diana's problems with sizing in the very cold, I meant to mention a variable I'd found that doesn't get much mention in coating gum -- HEAT and HUMIDITY (especially humidity).

That is, I found that the time between coating and exposure in conditions of high heat/humidity, ie., the wait to print, was a VERY big variable-- at least as important as exposure itself. On hot/humid days, any wait to print longer than 15 minutes could totally fog the print, and/or stain it, also possibly overexpose.

I wondered if it couldn't work the other way around.... that very cold conditions could tamp everything down. ?

I suppose every serious printer these days has a temperature/ humdity controlled studio (like Steven Livick), but mention it anyway. (My studio has 13 foot ceilings and the electricity bill from hell).

J.