> I am currently looking at Metzner's "Color" which I have borrowed through
> . . .
>
> Some of the prints look very very grainy, for example: "Jossie, Body Parts,
> . . .
I think that you would find the originals to be very grainy also, though I
have not viewed those specific Fresson prints. The grain is inherent to
the process but can vary based upon the processing temperature and time
used in the warm water bath just prior to the sawdust development.
The process will never be used by NASA or the military for high resolution
photography, the grain makes it a poor choice for technical applications.
However, the beauty of the process is not captured by any other printing
method that I am aware of which makes the book's reproductions of limited
value. In fact, even the glass of a framed original print can hide its
unique characteristics. In monochrome images the shadows look like you
will blacken your finger if touched while the highlights possess a
reflective quality that seems to illuminate them.
> Actually I have questions about what is or are the secret parts of the
> process. When we say something like "ancient Chinese receipe," that is because
> at one point they truly kept it as a secret and don't want to talk anything
> about it, but Luis doesn't seem to be that secretive. He doesn't mind saying
> that it is a gum bichromate process with sawdust development. So is the
> "secret" the coating process and/or the actual working procedure?
If this were horse shoes then close would count for some points . . .
however. Keeping the formulas and coating methodology a secret worked for
the Fresson family for about 100 years.
As to formulation, it is my belief that the essence of the process lies in
a mixture of gum and gelatin. Coating method is anyone's guess . . . see
"Jose Oritiz-Echague", ISBN: 84-85389-07-7, page 25 for a very dark
photograph of what is suppose to be the machine that Luis bought. Scan
the page on a flatbed and by enhancing the shadows you can get an amazing
amount of added detail out of this reproduction but still not enough to
settle speculation on coating methodology.
There are some samples of original unprocessed Fresson paper, as supplied
by a former practising printer, being analyzed as we speak. Results are
still forthcoming.
By the way, how does one decide that everything published is true?
Art Chakalis
Columbus, Ohio, USA