>Terry said the "nineties". I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to
>those who believe that the Earth is flat and those who believe that Elvis
>is still alive, but making carbon prints of what I call respectable
quality
>in such an environment is simply unbelievable.
I do not c;laim that the Earth is flat or that Elvis never died but I do
have the ability to go to the local supermarket and buy a sack of ice and
keep it in a refrigerator amd make a cold water bath. A simple answer to a
simple problem. Incidentally I seem to have spent a large part of the last
twenty years doing things that 'standard' works told me were impossible.
>For gravure it is different as pigment papers that give too much fog for
>carbon can still be used for gravure. In fact, this is the reason why we
>had so many problems with the Hanfstaengl materials. Hanfstaengl did not
.believe that his pigment papers fogged. He no longer had anyone at the
>plant capable of making carbon prints, so I described a simple fog test
>(see my books) that doesn't even require sensitization and his following
>letter started with the words "you were right all along..."
This is a side issue from the basic question which is whether it is easy
for a beginner to make a good carbon print. For anyone capable of making a
cake or painting a front door with gloss paint it is easy. That provides
the foundation for further practice and to:
>make some good carbons in several
>different colors with your own hand-made tissue. And add to this the
>following. Make sure there is a lot of clear sky in your prints because
>this will provide a good test of your ability to produce a tissue with no
>uneveness or streaking. Also, for technical reasons make sure that the
Dmin
>of the print in the areas where the highlights are paper base is no
greater
>tha .06, because greater than this would indicate too much fog density.
>Now Terry, I suspect with your experience you might well be capable of
>doing this. But how long do you really think it will take someone to get
to
>that point after "one demonstration"?
I did not claim that that was reasonable . I do not even think that a '
demonstration' of the process qualifies a get together to be known as a
'workshop'. I believe that the 'leader' should work together with the
students so that all may produce a carbon print. It is easy with
Autotype tissue, using the right negative, which the students will have
made themselves, for students to get a print with clear white highlights,
and good gradation and detail across the tonal range from the highlights to
the shadows. It is more difficult with hand made tissue, if the students
are to make their own tissue, where the exigencies of the process preclude
the slow progress needed for consistent success on a one or to day
workshop..
But that is for starters. It is then, with the encouragement of success in
making a single colour carbon, and it is a thrill, as foundation, for the
student to go on to practice and learn from mistakes in their own
environment, to make their own tissues to emulate the work of Messers
Aniere, Berger, Glover and Lowe. It would be very very silly to assume that
level could be achieved from one demonstration . But I never claimed that
it could.
If any one doubts me they can come on one of my workshops for beginners or
see how the masters do it, and have hands on practice with others I have
mentioned..
As to books, I encourage students to hoover up anything they can on the
subject so that they can make their own judgements and comparisons. Their
are many fine books on the market and Luis has made his major contribution
but I feel, as a picture maker, that many are far too concerned with the
process and not enough with the objective, which, for me, is to make a
picture. I know that I have been yacking on about it for years but I must
get round to getting my material together into a book giving clear
indications of the methods needed to produce
good pictures.
Terry King