[alt-photo] Re: Fumed Silica, results ?

[clay at clayharmon.com]

I have just begun to use it on a few papers and it has allowed me to make some very rich prints on papers that previously required acidification. My greatest success to date has been with the Twinrocker watercolor paper. In the past, I have had to acidify and sometimes double coat to get really nice solid  blacks and a rich print on this paper.  After treatment, a single coat of FO/metal salt gives me a very deep and rich print.

I have a bottle of the fumed silica in liquid form that I got from Bostick and Sullivan and simply soaked the paper in a tray and then hung it to dry. In his notes on the procedure, Richard is using a foam roller to ‘work’ the non-liquid silica in to the fibers of the paper. I have not done this yet and to date have simply opted to soak and dry before coating. 

I think fumed silica shows great promise, but a lot more experience with various papers is probably called for. I wonder, for instance, if there will be any effect (positive or negative) on my gumover prints if my base print is made using a fumed silica pre-treatment. I have not had time to find out. 

If nothing else, we should certainly keep it in our bag of tricks for making papers work for us. 

Clay
On Jan 4, 2012, at 8:42 AM, <C.Breukel at lumc.nl> wrote:

> Philippe,
> 
> That's the idea ultimately, but it would sure be nice to get positive feedback from various practitioners before I spend my money on yet another jar of chemicals on my shelf..
> 
> Best,
> 
> Cor
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org [mailto:alt-
>> photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org] On Behalf Of Philippe
>> Ayral
>> Sent: woensdag 4 januari 2012 13:44
>> To: The alternative photographic processes mailing list
>> Subject: [alt-photo] Re: Fumed Silica, results ?
>> 
>> I think you should give it a try in your own working conditions and
>> report your results to the list.
>> 
>> 2012/1/4  <C.Breukel at lumc.nl>:
>>> Some time ago Dick Sullivian posted very interesting information
>> regarding the use of Fumed Silica.
>>> 
>>> I was wondering if there are people around who have gained some
>> experience with it. I am particularly interested in the use of Fumed
>> silica in increasing Dmax in pure Pt printing.
>>> 
>>> For pure Pt printing I use Van Gelder Simili Japon, overall I am quite
>> happy with it (I hasten to add that I did not try many other papers), but
>> some more Dmax would be nice. I know that some people double coat Simili
>> Japon, but in my hands it did not increase Dmax, but did increase coating
>> artifacts.
>>> 
>>> I am also interested in using Fumed Silica on Simili Japon to do gum,
>> Simili Japon is quite smooth and provides very little tooth for gum to
>> stick on.
>>> 
>>> Thanks & best,
>>> 
>>> Cor
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Philippe Ayral
>> http://payral.pagesperso-orange.fr
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