Hi John,
I have posted the
titration method as mentioned by Reilly on Quinn’s wet plate forum
recently..;-)..
(http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/reilly/app-b.html
)
It is not that horrible
to do, I actually think it’s fun...;-).. It does require a buret and some
new chemistry (AmmoniumFerricSulphate).
Unfortunately the
titration method does for some reason not working for the WPC silver bath, I am
trying to get that figured out. You could also use Scott’s
(Strochem) simplified titration method with AgCl, mentioned in the same thread.
You can always PM if you
need further information or help,
Best,
Cor
From:
John Brewer
[mailto:john@johnbrewerphotography.com]
Sent: dinsdag 3 februari 2009 2:58
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: RE: Albumen sensitiser
question
Hi Eric
Thanks for your
input. The recipe I’m following comes from Christopher James book
http://www.christopherjames-studio.com/build/thebookreviews.html .
Lots of questions
I’m afraid!
I’m interested
in the way you maintain you AgNO3 bath with kaolin, that sounds like it will
save me a lot of agro. I practice wetplate photography and maintain
meticulously a silver bath for that. It’s wetplate negs I’m albumen
printing. How do you maintain you bath? What is your recipe
AgNO3/H20/kaolin/anything else? I understand why you use the kaolin but how do
you measure the AgNO3 depletion? Is this by throughput, specific gravity and pH
or by feeling/experience/sense? Can the same sensitiser be used for salt
printing?
J.
From:
eric nelson [mailto:emanphoto@gmail.com]
Sent: 02 February 2009 23:22
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Re: Albumen sensitiser
question
I wouldn't know if there are crystals at the bottom of
my agno3 as there is a layer of kaolin at the bottom. You will need that
too if floating your sheets on the agno3 surface to sensitize. This is
because the organic materials in the paper and albumen will darken the solution
over time and lower it's effectiveness. After the solution begins to
darken, shake the bottle and let the kaolin settle overnight taking the
discoloration with it. Reilly has a historical illustration of how to set
up a siphon for that and mine is nearly identical except that I used a glass
milk bottle. :)
When you say James, do you mean Reilly?
Since it takes 2-3 minutes of floating the paper on
the agno3 solution to properly sensitize albumen, brush or rod coating would be
a very uneven coating. I tried brush coating only once with inferior
results UNLESS one wants that kind of look, which could be cool. But for
straight printing/imaging floating gives the best results.
On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 4:54 PM, John
Brewer <john@johnbrewerphotography.com>
wrote:
Hi
folks
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?
One
other thing, James says that coating with a rod is possible. This would be
preferable for me at this moment. As the sensitiser is clear, coating under
safelights is tricky to say the least. Can I do it under low ambient light as I
do quite safely with gum? If not any tips or tricks would be most welcome.
Thanks,
John.