[alt-photo] metallic/chromo/gold/halochrome/Seigel/Dalla Tana

[Christina Anderson]

Dear All (and Alberto specifically),

OK, so I did all this researching on metallic plating out of prints because I just can't give my questions a rest (instead of grading as I should be doing).  Below is a lengthy list of the different chemistries involved that may be part of Dalla Tana's gold process. I found out all about Halochrome from the Rockland website as well as their MSDS sheets and the Halochrome is all their writing, not mine as indicated by quotes (tho it is loosely quoted). So I now know the difference between doing it on a non-fixed print and a fixed.  I share all, below, for someone still interested in getting into the darkroom. I am most positive Dalla Tana is doing it on a developed and fixed/previously made print as you can see, below, in the Halochrome section.

I share also my formula for doing chromo.

Those of you who do not think gelatin silver is alt, I apologize.

I was most happy to go through Judy's PF Journals again, but I had never read these sections because I was only interested in gum at the time.  I include her information here as well for comparison.  But you have to read it for yourself, and get the instructions. I thought it hilarious to find that I term my form of chromo "poor man's daguerreotype" and Judy in her PF years ago called it a "poor person's daguerreotype".  I thought I was being so clever!!! And here she was clever long before me, AND being gender-neutral. I wish, Judy, you would bind all PFs in a book and publish thru Lulu--so easy to make one PDF and do it nowadays....Jeremy, maybe you can do the work for her like you did with Camera Work :)

I also read Diana Bloomfield's HILARIOUS essay on portfolio reviews.  I think it is a must-read for my students.

And Cor Breukel and Christine Osinski did a lot of experimenting with this process as well.  Wonder who else.

Enough procrastination for the day.
Chris

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My formula for CHROMOSKEDASIC SABATTIER
Activator (pH 14)
Weight %/ Chemical Name
5-10        potassium hydroxide
5-10        sodium sulfite      

Stabilizer (pH 4.85)
Weight%/ Chemical Name
15-20        ammonium thiocyanate
5-10        sodium metabisulfite 
1-5               acetic acid
(works best with Tektol, not Dektol, so see below for ingredient comparison)

Tektol (pH 10.35)
Weight%/Chemical Name
10-25                         potassium carbonate
7-10                         sodium sulfite
5-10                         sodium isoascorbic
1-5                         triethanolamine           


Activator is always in a 2:1 proportion to Stabilizer and Tektol stock, and mixed like this:
2 parts Activator
1 part Tektol
1 part Stabilizer
4 parts water
At time of use, mix a tray of the above and put a freshly developed but not yet fixed print into it for as long as it takes to plate out silver.  Fix, wash, hypclear as normal.
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"HALOCHROME (Rockland Website!!!)
"Halo-Chrome tones black-and-white prints pure silver by fusing the black grains of colloidal silver into solid metallic silver. It can be used two ways, one on a finished print and one on a freshly developed but not fixed print. The first, bleaching and retoning an already finished print, produces silver in the blacks of the image so a silver image on a white background (if it were a black tree against a white sky).  The second, no bleaching but just toning a not-yet-fixed image—produces silver in the whites of the image so a black image on a silver sky (if it were a black tree against a white sky).
"Bleach Formula:
CUPRIC CHLORIDE Percent: 38
WATER Percent: 62
Prepare the bleach solution by adding the entire contents of the small bottle of green copper bleach to one quart (1 liter) of water. Add one tablespoonful (approx. 1 oz.) of table salt. Store this solution in a glass or plastic bottle marked "Bleach." Do not use stainless steel or other metals, as the bleach is corrosive.

"Redeveloper Formula:
Halo-Chrome® Silver Toner (1)
AMMONIUM HYDROXIDE (SARA III) Percent: 30
SODIUM HYDROXIDE (SARA III) Percent: 2.5
NON-HAZARDOUS INGREDIENTS AND WATER Percent: 67.5
© Rockland Colloid Corp.)
Make up a fresh working solution of Halo-Chrome by mixing one part of concentrate with 7 parts of cool water. (Use the same day).

"Bleaching and Redeveloping a fixed print
Choose a high-contrast negative. Expose normally onto paper, either fiber-base or RC. Develop with paper developer such as Dektol, and fix with Kodak Fixer (or other hypo-based fixer. Avoid rapid or liquid fixers, which may fade the image.) Wash the print thoroughly to remove all fixer.  The remaining steps can be done under room light. Immerse the washed print in the Bleach solution until only a yellow ghost-image remains. Rinse the print. The bleach can be re-used. Pour enough Redeveloper solution to cover the print in a tray and immerse the print with constant agitation until silvering is complete. (A second print can be toned immediately after.) Rinse the toned print and put back in fixer for a few seconds, until any stains disappear (or not at all if you don’t need it—it is a “develop to completion” process). Wash 5 minutes and dry.

"Silvering out a not-fixed print
This procedure does not require bleach. Make up a fresh working solution of Redeveloper  by mixing one part of concentrate with 7 parts of cool water. (Use the same day). Choose a high-contrast negative. Expose the print for twice the normal time. Develop the print in paper developer, but do not shortstop or fix. Pour enough Halo-Chrome solution to cover the print in a tray. Rinse the developed print one minute in running water, drain and immerse in the Halo-Chrome solution with vigorous agitation until silvering is complete. Rinse the toned print and fix for one minute. Wash and dry like a normal print."

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POST FACTORY  © JUDY SEIGEL

Silver Mirror Printing, or as Seigel calls it, Specular Silver (SS) Toning (the “poor person’s daguerreotype”) Issue 3 pp. 28-29, 38, Issue 4 p. 43, Issue 6 pp. 31-32, Issue 7 pp. 23, 26. Issue 3 is the one you want to buy.

 BLEACH
Copper Bleach (CB)
300ml water
10g. sodium chloride (2 ¾ tsp)
10g. copper sulfate (1 ½ tsp)
At time of use, dilute bleach 1+1 water.
(and lots of other formulae)

STEP TWO:  REDEVELOPER FORMULAE STOCK SOLUTIONS (mix 1 +10 at time of use)
2 g. hydrazine sulfate
1g hydroxylamine hydrochloride
50ml 25% ammonia
120ml 10% sodium hydroxide
40-200ml distilled water.
(and LOTS of other formulae).


Christina Z. Anderson
christinaZanderson.com