In practical terms 'deionised' means that trace elements that would react with
metallic salts are removed from the gelatine during processing. It is what the
photographic industry coat their films and papers with so it is likely to be
better to use it making kallitypes. You can get it from Croda Colloids in
England who are at Widnes in Cheshire, their address is on the 286 which I can't
get at the moment because my wife is playing Tetris,( are there clinics like the
Betty Ford). There is a big directory of chemicals and similar materials, what
they are used for and who makes them. I go to Richmond Reference Library to look
things up, so I can't remember what it is called, but I know where it is on the
shelf.
Iron III etc is how THE HOUSE OF ALDRICH, may blessings and honour be upon
them, describe iron compounds in their catalogue.So it it ain't a Brit
conspiracy.
It's to help people who might confuse ferrous and ferric in their recipes
because if you put the wrong one in it won't work.
Only the highest class sizes go in for that sort of thing., deionisation. And
only the very best people use them. I do not think that being merely starchy
would be enough. Certainly rabbit skins wouldn't..
I have noticed that kallitypes,brown prints, darken with increased humidity. if
you are making kallitypes on unbleached cotton, pressing the fabric afterwards
with a steam iron( I don't know if this is I, II, or III ) turns the image
black. it does not work with paper, I tried it, probably something to do with
the absorbency of the fibers.
Put your dry coated platinum paper somewhere which will contain the humidity
before exposure. It is a good idea if this is somewhere dark, like a cupboard (
closet or is that another word for bathroom). And it is a good idea not to let
the print fall into the water as you say. Put the print on an upside down ten by
eight tray in a ten twelve tray that contains warm water. Mike Ware has tables
showing how humidifying agents affect the issue set out in his book which I am
sure he would send you in return for some tokens of appreciation. It would be
presumptuous of me to talk about how the argyrotype would behave when Mike is
listening.
In my early experiments and in prints by others, chlorate had a consistently
adverse effect on the final print to the extent that I found other ways of
controlling contrast in the print. The main one was of course getting the neg or
the interneg right. I do not know if chlorate always causes graininess. What I
do know is that in all the comparative tests I have seen the print containing
chlorate was always less subtle in gradation and seemed dirty compared with the
pure print.
nice to hear from you again.
Terry