contrast of VDB, et al. (was poor man's negatives"
Oh Phritz, you are so right (tho I see that the average is 12 to 15 steps) and my face is red or at least cadmium orange... I checked Post-Factory #8, which had a few articles on the subject....On Wed, 12 Aug 2009, phritz phantom wrote:hi judy, First Carmen Lizardo [starting p. 18] on "the Vandyke Brown and Kallitype Processes," with a contribution by Liam Lawless of a formula to adjust the contrast of VDB to your desires. Carmen writes that "Vandyke brown is like cyanotype in that both are based on a "ferric" or iron salt.... [and that] Vandyke and cyano are close to each other in look and behavior... " but "the contrast was so LOW." But with Liam's formula she could do "Variable Contrast Vandyke Brown." This combines traditional VDB with the usual part A, and an alternate formula with a different part A, "like having a set of variable contrast filters in a bottle." Liam's part A is: 6 grams ferric citrate 3 grams ferric ammonium citrate 33 ml water... Parts B & C are the same as traditional formula, & the 3 parts mixed together in the same manner. [But don't ask me where you can get ferric citrate today... This article from Feb 2003 says Tri-Ess sells it, but as I recall, Tri Ess is no more.] Traditional A is mixed with Liam's A in different proportions depending on contrast desired. The more of Liam's formula used, the contrastier the emulsion. After this article (including toners) Carmen does one on Kallitype, showing numerous variables of paper, developers & toners, including a 21 step showing "12 steps & good detail in a beautiful brownish black." Sandy King covers some fine points of contrast control in kallitype in which he goes from 15 steps to 8-9 with negatives ranging from very hard to very soft. He also says that classic VDB "requires a negative with a density range of well over 2." There follows on page 24 a roundup of contrast controls, variables & toners for VDB & kalli, with some gems from the alt-photo list of 1998, for instance: "Someone observed that if you stop heat drying vandyke, just let emulsion air dry in the dark, almost every paper is good." "If you add the silver too quickly, a cloudy substance will form, but keep stirring... if your chemicals are good it goes back into solution." At a couple of points, Carmen & others note that "double coating in VDB makes a darker richer print." Gwen Walstrand said she controls VDB contrast with selenium toner for "deeper shadows & more neutral color." I speculated from my own observation & that of others that "Kallitype formulas in the old books sometimes added a wrong ingredient on purpose, maybe." etc. etc. etc. Anyway this is information overload... Please excuse. But clearly you were right Pfritz... all I can say, in case you couldn't tell, is it's a long time since I did VDB. J.
|