Liam Lawless (lawless@vignette.freeserve.co.uk)
Sat, 20 Mar 1999 15:17:39 +0000
Hi Joao,
Your problem is almost certainly due to uneven coating(s). First thing I
would recommend is to soak your paper in the salt solution (about 3 minutes)
and hang up to dry, rather than brushing. I know that some workers brush,
but soaking is safer.
But I suspect that the main reason is that you are sensitising a central
part of a larger sheet of paper. When it is wetted in the middle only, the
paper expands where it is wet but if surrounded by dry margins it will
cockle, forming hills and valleys. The solution runs off the hills into the
valleys, causing unevenness.
Soak the paper in the salt like I said, and then you have only the silvering
operation to worry about. Now, for a decent result the ratio of silver to
salt must be the same over the whole image area (which, by the sound of what
you say, it is not), and my way of achieving this is first to soak in salt,
as described, then when dry, to paint on a generous coating of silver, leave
it 30 seconds and blot it off. (It is not necessary to use photographic
blotting paper.) In 3-4 minutes the paper should be touch-dry, after which
I give a second coat of silver (for improved contrast and D-max), and blot
it off in the same way. The silver will cause the blotting paper to stain
in the light, but it can be re-used many times if kept clean.
As I said on The Other List, I haven't done salt for a couple of years, but
I'm going to try one tonight so wish me luck. Try this method if all else
fails, and don't tell anyone else!
Liam
-----Original Message-----
From: Joao Ribeiro <jribeiro@greco.com.br>
To: Alt-Photo-Process <Alt-Photo-Process-l@usask.ca>
Date: 20 March 1999 00:50
Subject: Salted paper blotch
>Hi Guys,
>
>HELP!!!
>
>I am trying to do salted paper but just can't get it uniform. The image
>comes awful (looks like a peeled wall)
>I am brushing the salt and silver nitrate solutions.
>
>Thanks for the help
>
>Joao
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:09:04