Re: Tissue for Carbon Print

Peter Marshall (petermarshall@cix.compulink.co.uk)
Sat, 27 Jul 96 18:05 BST-1

In-Reply-To: <838458545.18441.0@fotem.demon.co.uk>

>
> >n-Reply-To: <960724102438_163061100@emout09.mail.aol.com>
>
> There are some instructions on making carbon tissue in the archive. I
found
> the cheapest lining paper rolls from my local DIY store perfect for the
job.<
>
> Dear Peter,
>
> My old friend Mike Shorter reckons that some lining paper contain
> considerable amounts of formaldehyde as an anti-fungicidal agent which is
> not a good idea for a tissue substrate, as your lining paper is cheap,
> perhaps they did not bother to go to the expense of putting the
> formaldehyde in, and therefore it works perfectly?.

I have no idea whether your friend is right or not - only that it worked for
me. I don't expect there would be enough formaldehyde left to bother about
anyway given its volatility and solubility - I soak the paper briefly before
using a squeegee to put it on the glass. The paper is cheap, porous so it
dries quickly and soaks off readily and has sufficient wet strength for the
job.

>
> It was great to meet you at Terry's fantastic Photogravure workshop.
>
> pete

Yes, a good week was had by most of us I think, and we (including Terry I'm
sure learnt a lot.) It may be worth passing on the one little tip - obvious
when you think about it - that when etching the copper plate in ferric
chloride you can see the step wedge much more easily if you tilt the plate
very slightly so that the dark reaction products tend to flow down over the
already etched part of the wedge.

Good to see one or two people getting decent prints too - and in particular
Clive, working from positives produced by a fairly cheap inkjet printer.

Also good to be able to look at Patrick's work produced using the Howard
process with Riston, which confirms my thoughts that this is worth pursuing
on health and cost grounds, but also I remain to be convinced it can give
the same depth of blacks.

Did you have a look at the Danish book Terry had (I think this has been
mentioned on the list also) which uses a different printed circuit material
- as I think you (and Lance who was there) have also tried. There seemed to
be a few important bits that didn't get translated though. Any suggestions
about plagiarism from either would appear to have absolutely no basis in
fact however on my brief reading.

***Anglicism warning - but of zero photographic significance anyway**
Waistline now recovering from excessive greasy spoon treatment!
********************************************************************

Peter

On Fixing Shadows, Dragonfire and elsewhere:
http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/cgi-uva/cgiwrap/~ds8s/Niepce/peter-m.cgi
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