Re: blue on blue

Terry King (KINGNAPOLEONPHOTO@compuserve.com)
Wed, 12 Feb 1997 18:48:51 -0500

Message text written by Judy Seigel
>

>On Tue, 11 Feb 1997, Terry King wrote:
>
>> Firstly I must apologise for 'King Napoleon'. King is me and Napoleon
is

>Terry, no need to apologise, it suits you perfectly (and yes, I figured
>out where the Napoleon came from).

Yes. I suppose the person I should be apologising to is me.

>"King, T. 'The Profit of the Alternative,' The Photographer, 30 (11), 46,
>November 1991."

>Thanking you kindly in advance.

It did not, in fact, contain a formula. It was in the BIPP(British
Institute of Professional Photographers) Journal. It was intended just to
explain in very broad terms what the processes were to people who did not
know that they existed. A history of alterative photography, how to make a
profit from it and what eight different processes looked like in less than
a thousand words. It said:

' Cyanotypes are blue. You can make a cyanotype from a very thin negative
or a fairly dense one and get the same qualityof print. Cyanotypes also
give beautiful tonal range and gradation if they are printed properly and
printed from the right kid of negative. Thay also date from the 1840s and
were invented by the man who suggested hypo as a fixer. Herschel also made
photographs from dogs urine and geranium juice and complained about the
noise and smoke from the trains on the new GWR. But cyanotypes are blue'.

It was what the editor wanted.

I mix 20g of FAC (Green) in 100 ml of water and then 8g of PFC in 100 ml of
water. I then put them in the same bottle. The mixture usually lasts
sufficiently for me not to have noticed a difference before I use it all
up.

>Fabriano Artistico looks pretty good (do you double coat?)

I did for papers other than Fabriano Artistico but the main reason for
double coating is if you have a thin negative. I double coated for one of
my favourite cyantypes but then the neg had density range of 0.7 but the
print has good tonal range and gradation.

some others
>may be equally so or better. The color, "royal" or "prussian," even with a
>green tinge, is a factor not just of exposure but even more markedly of
>the paper.

Yes. I arrived at Fabriano Artistico after rejecting others. The water does
make a difference. I was concerned that when the London ring main was
completed we would start getting boring water from Esex rather than the
chalky stuff from the London artesian basin which not only gives royal blue
cyanotypes but, in summer, green VDBs. We did and the prints changed colour
with the new water. Thank God they have turned that tap off now and we are
getting the chalky stuff again.

>The 1.4 is not immutable -- each paper has its own "scale." But glad to
>know you like the Fabriano Artistico so much. I'll add it to the menu.

I know,but it was the best I could get taking one thing with another. But
sized Fab Art gives such beautiful results that I can see no reason for me
to change from the cheap, simple and safe recipe in The Keepers of Light.

Incidentally Towler gives the ferric chloride variation in the Silver
sunbeam.

Terry