[alt-photo] Re: applying VDB etc. emulsions

[francis schanberger]

Has the type of paper you are using changed i.e have you switched papers or
has the manufacturing of your paper been "updated" to change the pH? How old
is your sensitizer? Depending on how quickly I add the silver nitrate when
mixing parts a, b and c and how long it has been ripened before use, there
might be a substantial precipitate that you may be pulling up a little bit
of into your dropper.

I always would get light coating streaks with Arches Platine unless I used a
coating rod. I can use anything to apply chemistry onto a Kozo fiber paper
without streaks.

I always struggled with Tween so I never adopted it into my work flow. I
measure my amount of chemistry as squirts of the dropper along with extra
drops. For a 11"' x 18.5" print I use seven squirts and four drops from a
plastic dropper that fits in a 25ml brown bottle. For small prints up to
this size I use a 2" wide foam brush. I put the sensitizer into a small
salsa container which gets poured onto the paper as a puddle usually in the
middle of the print in an arc shape. I use the brush to push the chemistry
around into an ever increasing rectangle shape.

The importance of the salsa container can not be understated. When placed on
top of a white sheet of paper, it is easy to detect debris or precipitate in
the sensitizer that may have gotten drawn up into the eyedropper or transfer
pipette.

-francis



-- 
francis schanberger

www.frangst.com