<<
Then there's a process called at the time it was evolved to substitute for
platinum when platinum got very expensive (the Ferro-Prussic war, or
something, circa 1917) *kallitype*, >>
Sorry Judy but you are getting confused here. The kallitype was invented by
Nichol in 1899 although the principle comes from Herschel's work in the
1840's. Nichol put it on the market but withdrew it because of the permanency
problems.
What we now usually call the Van-Dyke Brown process was often previously
called the sepia process or the water developing kallitype or the single
solution kallitype, differences in the formulae are slight.
The material which was marketed as a substitute for platinum when the price of
this rocketed was Satista paper. I don't think the formula of this was
published, but there were attempts by others to produce similar materials.
I don't think it is much harder to produce prints using kallitype then vdb. It
is just a matter of using a suitable developer rather than water, and slightly
longer lists of ingredients!
Vdb is likely to be more archival than kallitypes made using alkaline
developers - see the archives of course. However kallitypes using a mildly
acidic developer may be more stable still, particularly if you use alkaline
tap water.
Peter Marshall
On Fixing Shadows, Dragonfire and elsewhere:
http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/~ds8s/
Family Pictures & Gay Pride: http://www.dragonfire.net/~gallery/
and: http://www.speltlib.demon.co.uk/