How do you dry your freshly sensitized tissue in a hot environment without
running into all kinds of problems? Or, worse, how do you dry your freshly
coated tissue (with sensitizer) in the same environment?
Luis
No, it works for both.
You sensitise the paper in a cold sensitiser and when it is still cold you
squeegee it onto the perspex and then either remove it and hang it up to
dry or leave it on the perspex in a current of 'cold' air from a fan
heater; both in the dark of course. When it is dry and after exposure,
bring it together with the receiving tissue under cold water. before
proceeding in the usual way.( Incidentally acetate sheet seems to work just
as well at half the price.)
This method works well for beginners and produces good prints with clear
whites in the highlights and detailed shadows. G25 may produce a print in
burnt sienna but as the colourseemed to be good enough for JMC and Leanado
it is good enough for me.
Some may ask why do gravure in hot weather. Well it came at the end of a
year long course of Saturdays starting in September. We worked in broadly
historical order through salt, albumen, cyanotype, carbon, platinum, gold,
kallitype, bromoil and oil and the transfer processes, photo-etching and
finishing with gravure in July. We made negatives, took pictures, made our
own ferric oxalate, and made our own custard for albumen arrowroot. We had
fun, learnt things and made pictures. Everybody did it all.
I hope that we will be able to have the same spirit of learning and fun in
the new Richmond project but I will not be doing it all. We now have
broadened things and brought in specialist experts. Russ Young will be
making pin hole images on two weekends in March, 14 and 15, and 20 and 21
(90 pounds) .In April we have the 'Rochester Team' doing albumen( two 2 day
workshops) ,daguerreotype and wet collodion with Richard Morris rounding
things off with a calotype workshop. I will be doing gum and gravure
workshops and Mike Ware will be covering argyrotypes and the new cyanotype
and his approach to platinum. One Richard Sullivan is down to cover the
ziatype on 11 and 12 July but I am not sure how this fits in with Apis in
Oporto. Charles Berger will do a hands on Permaprint (carbon) workshop and,
I hope that we will persuade someone I have mentioned to givea straight
carbon workshopship. Peter Frederick will get people to make Fotempera
prints and Chris Fox will show his new approach to Bromoil. Galina will
cover photoceramics.We will have evening sessions on the production of the
fine architectural print and negatives for alternative processes using
computers.There are plans to include Carlos on kallitypes and Jack Fulton
on creative approaches to the very large print.
We are approaching this as a labour of love so prices will not be high.
Terry King