> ... does anyone know of a UK shop where I can find the book by Dick
> Stevens: Making Kallitypes: A Definite Guide, Focal Press 1993, ISBN
> 0-240-80181-4 which was mentioned a while ago?"
Note, if you are making a computer search, the title is *Definitive*
Guide. Computers, like life, tend to penalize you heavily for trivial errors.
> Frankly my own advice would have been for some years to stick to the brown print
> version as the more complicated version using ferric oxalate did not appear to
> have any advantages. But reading Dick Stevens book led me to experiment from
As I recall, the Silver Print price list included the Stevens kallitype book.
But a question comes to mind. I've read on this list (Luis?, Mike W.?)
that kallitype is *less* archival than van dyke brown, which we are told
is less archival, than, say, buttermilk.
If this is really true, perhaps it would after all be better to use
palladium (yecchh!) or at least gold-tone the prints. I have bought the
argyrotype kit, allegedly similar to VDB and *more* archival than
buttermilk, but not yet (I confess) tried it, since my iceberg keeps
growing.
However, on the general topic of kallitype, that was one place I didn't
run into any glitches, in fact it worked quite easily and was very beautiful
(though I grant I wasn't using that so-called "definitive" book).
After a certain amount of testing I settled on the sodium acetate
developer, for its fine color and contrast control capability. (My
protocol & formulas were put in the FAQ, as I recall, and also I believe
on an alternate processes web page. Don't know for sure because my modem
doesn't go places like that.)
I did some brief tests with palladium toner for the sodium-acetate
developed kallitypes & the color was quite black and beautiful. Another
*big* variable with kallitype color was the paper. More absorbent ones
tended to go blacker.
For ease and fool proofness with kallitype, however, I would *highly*
recommend the Bostick & Sullivan ammonium citrate developer. It cleared
while it developed, too. (I simply wanted a less brown color.)
But please, could we have some more wisdom about kallitype archivality?
Judy