Today was spent pigment printing with ten enthusiasts.
We made bromoils using the new Kentmere Document Art which we found worked well
with hard ink in the shadows and soft ink in the highlights.
We made bromoils using Chen Fu glossy and matt. They worked well using softer
ink but we concluded that the matt needed a softer negative.
We made pigment prints from contact negatives which is a process that works so
beautifully that I sometimes wonder if bromoilists have ever tried it.
We prepared matrices using Silverprint emulsion onto Fabriano Artistico NOT. The
silver gelatine prints were so beautiful that the temptation was to stop there.
We found that it was important to add about 30% Ilfatol to the emulsion before
it was applied with a brush and that when the print had been exposed that it was
important not to touch the surface until it had dried. The blacks were gorgeous
and there was good gradation and separation across the tonal range. I was
reminded of a platinum print. We will not know untill next week whether these
glories will remain when we have bleached and inked up the prints. One of the
prints was made with a paper negative printed from a desktop bubble jet.
Next week we will be making multicolour transfers.
Any questions ?
If anyone is interested in a workshop on pigment printing I could set one up.
Terry King