>Another time I added the last ingredient to a kallitype formula (with the
>silver already in it, dissolved) that *instantly* precipitated out the
>silver -- turning the solution all cloudy white, refusing to re-
>"dissolve."
That is silver oxalate and is due to free oxalic acid in the ferric
oxalate. A big bugaboo with liquid grades of FO as the liquid manufacturing
process will almost guarantee some extra oxalic acid.
The way to solve this problem is to add small quantities of a concentrated
solution of ferric nitrate to it while stirring. Keep testing a small
amount of the FO until a drop of silver goes in clean and doesn't make a
cloudy precipitate. You do want to overdo it, as this will leave a trace of
nitric acid in the solution. The nitric acid will act as a contrasting
agent. Do this with a small clear beaker or test tube. Now you can add the
silver nitrate.
I think this free oxalic acid problem is one of the reasons that Kallitypes
have not enjoyed much popularity in the modern era. Folks have not been
able to get the proper materials and none of the printed modern articles on
the Kallitype mention this other than the totally disorganized and
unreadable Dick Steven's book. "Making Kallitypes." I think it is in there
but if it can find it, you may deserve a hundred dollar prize.
I vote for the Kallitype as the most underrated of the alt processes. I
spent many an hour at the UCLA Research Library when they had all of the
old photo stuff still on the open stacks. Now its of tucked away in the
little library up by Nuclear Medicine and behind lock and key and you have
to beg a student worker to fetch them for you. (You couldn't get to the
stacks for many years unless you were a grad student either, but I solved
that one by making a stamp out of a big gum eraser and an Xacto knife. My
card then had "Stacks" stamped on the back.)
My favorite activity was to grab a bunch of bound photo journals and mags
from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and just browse them. None of
that stuff is indexed and the only way you can find things is mostly by
luck. There were at periods quite a few articles and editorials bemoaning
the fact that the big guns of the photo world, the guys and gals with all
the prizes, complained viciously about the hoipolloi entering Kallitypes in
shows and labeling them as platinums. It was thought of as cheating. If I
recall correctly this was in the mid to late teens when platinum was
getting pricey.
This leads to another one of my pet theories which I will bore the old
timers here with again: the magical dissapearance of the Kallitypes. Allow
me to namedrop, but I just this last Friday discussed this very topic with
Van Deren Coke. "Have you ever seen any Kallitypes in collections?" Is a
question I am fond of asking curators and major collectors. Some say that
they think they may have seen one or two, but can't remember exactly where
or when.
This question came up between Coke and me when he asked what the Doris
Ullman prints might be made of. He says that recently some were tested and
they have no pt or pd in them. He said they didn't test for silver.
Interesting! Melody has a couple of Ullmans's in her collection. (She
collects "Women's photographs of women." ) Ullman was poor and worked in
Appalachia. Could these be Kallitypes? Coke said he thought that they were
made on pre-coated paper. I believe I heard that there was a Kallitype type
of pre-coated paper made in the 20's and 30's and maybe one of our resident
historians could amplify this.
My theory that Kallitypes really exist and are peppering collections world
wide. It's just that they have been masquerading as platinums. Truth in
advertising was not a big deal in the earlier part of this century. People
did not annotate prints as much as they do today. There are only a couple
of possibilities:
They were properly labeled as Kallitypes, they all faded to white, and were
thrown way. (nothing fades to white.)
They partially faded, and were thrown away. (Unlikely as people don't throw
away partially faded albumens or any other kind of print.
They were properly labeled, partially faded, and still exist. (seems to be
a nonexistent happenstance.)
They were propperly labeled and still exist. (No one I've talked to has
seen very many if they do.)
They were not labeled, did not fade, and now lurk as platinums. Just like
the Ulmann's that Melody bought at auction as platinums. This gets my vote.
So much for the lowly Kallitype.
--Dick Sullivan
Bostick & Sullivan
PO Box 16639, Santa Fe
NM 87506
505-474-0890 FAX 505-474-2857
<http://www.bostick-sullivan.com>http://www.bostick-sullivan.com