From: TERRY KING, 101522,2625
TO: INTERNET:AlbumenWks@aol.com, INTERNET:AlbumenWks@aol.com
DATE: 05/06/96 09:13
RE: Copy of: Some Albumen Notes
To Albumen note takers.
I think I might come in on this discussion as \ have been teaching albumen
printing on my year long alternative processes course for some years now.
Floating is the tried and true method. For a truly glossy albumen
> paper, brush sensitizing is prone to bubbles and streaks, unless the albumen
> is pre-hardened.
The thinking behind my course has been to keep alive those processes that have
aesthetic qualities that cannot be obtained with currently available commercial
products. The Victorian albumen prints in my collection have a very similar
appearance in terms of tactility and density range to a modern toned silver
gelatine print. This was the kind of print the public demanded in the middle
years of the nineteenth century as it reflected the demand for the ' hi- tech'
products of the time. The reaction against machine made glossiness led to mat
albumen prints that have the appeal of some of the high quality velvety silver
gelatine papers that are also no longer available to us ( but try developing
Kentmere Classic Art in amidol).
Floating for both sensitising and coating is only feasible in terms of large
amounts of the finished paper. If one is thinking in terms of one or two, it is
far easier and far less extravagant to use a brush to coat and to sensitise
using the formulation in 'The Albumen and Salted Paper Book' as the basis for
further exploration. The albumen from one egg can be used to coat a number of
large prints.
The albumen/arrowroot coating is easy to make and quite fun as I take students
down to the demonstration kicthens where there always seems to be an Australian
cake icing demonstration going on at the other end.
> For a higher gloss,
In my practice I try to avoid the gloss.
>
> The density range of a negative to print fully on albumen paper (or a salted
> paper) is about 2.20 to 2.30, as mentioned. That is with plain 10-15% silver
> nitrate sensitizer. Some more complicated sensitizers will increase the
> paper's contrast a bit, requiring a negative of only about 2.00 to 2.10
> density range. Dropping the ammonium chloride concentration in the albumen to
> about 0.5% (from the normal 3-4%) will further increase the paper's contrast
> a bit.
>
> By comparison, gelatine chloride printing-out paper (ie. Centennial) requires
> a negative of about 1.80 density range for a full-scaled print. This density
> range is about the same as that required for platinum with no contrast
> increase.
I get good gradation and a full range of tone from salt (albumen) and platinum
and my version of the kallitype all from the same negative with a density range
of just over 2.0
Part 2 following
Terry King
>