After doing carbon printing for many years now I can only recommend to
beginners - as Luis and others allready did - to start with the smallest
number of variables possible.
-Get Luis Nadeau's book Modern Carbon Printing. Or try to get A. M.
Marton's "A New Treatise on The Modern Methods of Carbon Printing,
Bloomington, Illinois 1905" There should be a copy in the
George-Eastman-House library or the Rochester Institute of Technology
library.
-Get a good continous tone negative with a density range of ca. 0.2 to 1.7
logD or a little more. Paper negs are likely to be underexposed, as they
are usually juged by reflected light first. I found it surprizing to see
how dark they must be printed in order to give enogh detail in the shadows.
At the beginning, I would strongly recomend to have the negative density
checked with a densitometer. "Contrasty", "dense" etc. means different
things for most of us.
-If you want to start with a self-made tissue, start with one of the old
formulas, prefereably one that doesn't recommend too many ingredients and
use photographic grade gelatin. Food gelatin is too soft. Don't change
these formulas and working schedules until you get consistent results. It
is more likely that the old (and new ;-)) writers knew what they were
writing about than that they are telling us nonsense. Of course they don't
tell us all we would like to know as for them many things went without
saying...
BTW: I still have original Hanfstaengl tissue in two colours (olive black
and violet black) here for sale.
-Start with a 2-3% potassium dichromate sensitizer. As it is likely that
you are still working slowly at the beginning, I would suggest to add
ammonia to this solution until it turns yellow. This is the only additive I
found of any advantage, as it slows down the sensitivity and improves the
tissue's keeping properties considerably. If your prints are coming out too
soft or contrasty, change the neg, not the sensitizer... I also found the
classic soaking for three minutes in cold sensitizer (15-17C) to be better
than applying sprit sensitizer with a plastic foam brayer - although the
latter method just needs 25 to 50 ml of sensitizer...
I do not store the (used) working solutions for more than one or two days
but only the saturated stock solutions. Regarding your waste water: It is
likely that the dichromate will form less- or non-reactive compounds on
it's way down the drain to the clearing station, when it gets mixed with
other industrial or privat waste water. I was told by specialists that
pounds of pure dichromate poored right into the bassins are necessary to
kill the bacteria in a modern water clearing station for a city with appr.
100.000 inhabitants. However if you are unsure or close to a small clearing
station don't play roulette, let the solutions concentrate by letting the
water evaporate and give it to a save disposing company for toxic waste.
-Fixed-out bromide paper or even RC paper is o.k. to start with as single
transfer paper and for test strips. Try the matt versions - it is just nice
to see the glossy relief on it.
Klaus Pollmeier