RE: Albumen sensitiser question

[John Brewer <john@johnbrewerphotography.com>]

Thanks for the input Judy. I checked my VDB solution and that has a
precipitate too but is quite different to the AgNO3 precipitate which is a
hard crystal. I did a couple of salt and albumen prints today sensitised
with some sensitiser I decanted and it worked fine. The only faults in the
images were operator error :)

J.

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Seigel [mailto:jseigel@panix.com] 
Sent: 02 February 2009 04:50
To: alt-photo-process-L@usask.ca
Subject: Re: Albumen sensitiser question


On Sun, 1 Feb 2009, John Brewer wrote:

> I made up some silver nitrate sensitiser according to James p 471, that is
> 15% silver nitrate plus 5% citric acid in distilled water.
>
> I see there is now some crystals at the bottom of the bottle. They weren't
> there when I made the solution up and sensitised some paper. I can't seem
to
> dissolve them, even with heat and vigorous shaking. What are they? Are
they
> anything to worry about? Can I filter or decant them out?>

For what it's worth, I mention my own experience with silver nitrate in a 
different formula (vandyke brown). In time, a black precipitate appeared 
in the bottle of solution which didn't disappear with shaking. However, 
when I spread the emulsion on paper, the applicator apparently mixed it 
back into solution.

Could that possibly happen with the crystals ?

J.