[alt-photo] Re: paper and cyanotype

[Mark Nelson]

More moisture will give more speed with Cyanotype. 

Mark Nelson
www.PrecisionDigitalNegatives.com
PDNPRint Forum @ Yahoo Groups
www.MarkINelsonPhoto.com

sent from my iPhonetypeDeviceThingy

On Feb 20, 2012, at 10:14 AM, Christina Anderson <zphoto at montana.net> wrote:

> Dear All,
> One very much discussed process 1994-2005 was cyanotype. Why it was discussed a lot: problems. People discuss when problems occur more often than when things are going swimmingly.
> 
> Yesterday I began the cyanotype process in paper testing, on Buxton. Thin but nice paper but a bit pricey. Testing Ware's formula (did not mix it myself--bought it from Fotospeed so I could eliminate any variable I might add to the mix). What was shocking is that years ago when I tested I found Ware's to be much faster than Traditional (20%A/8%B). But on Buxton my SPT (Standard Printing Time) was 2 minutes Ware's and 2.5 minutes Traditional 1A:1B. On other papers I find Traditional to be somewhere 9-30 minutes even! UVBL/72 degrees/30 RH with a humidifier on.
> 
> Thus my only, really, conclusion with this is that all the disagreement over whether cyanotype is slower or faster than argyrotype or VDB, problems with cyanotype washing off, getting grainy, taking an hour to expose, blah blah blah is extremely paper dependent first, and no wonder we all have such different experiences, so much so that it is pointless to even try to pin down or quantify. 
> 
> Not to even mention humidity, which took me all day with a humidifier on to get to 30% even.
> 
> But I guess if speed is what you are looking for, Buxton would be it. 
> 
> The other thing I find strange on Buxton as opposed to my experiences years ago is that both formulas are a beautiful turquoise blue on it. In the past I remember Ware's being more navy than Traditional. I even went online to find the MSDS sheet, thinking Fotospeed had actually packaged traditional instead of new, and nope--it's the new version with FAO and dichromate. But if you are looking for a rich turquoise color, fast speed, and long tonal range, Buxton is it. 
> 
> Ware's sinks in much faster into the paper.
> 
> Ware's clears much slower and, in fact, needs to be helped along with citric acid.
> 
> Back to testing.
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Christina Z. Anderson
> christinaZanderson.com
> 
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