Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:26:06 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Adam Kimball wrote:
> OK, Judy caught me. I exchanged a few mails with Mike last week on this
> subject. He recommended Citric Acid initially - I would assume because the
> effect was good and citric isn't terribly dangerous stuff. However, he
> mentioned to me that he is now using dilute Hydrochloric or Nitric. The
> Nitric's added benefit is that the 'reversed' tones (commonly thought of as
> solarized) come back to their proper levels in the Nitric bath because it is
> oxidizing. If you don't use the Nitric, the tones come back to life usually
> within 24 hours, and within 30 seconds in a very dilute hydrogen peroxide
> bath. The nitric's downfall, as we all know (or should know) is that Nitric
> is nasty stuff in concentrated form.
>
> Mike mentioned to me that he is concerned that the citric poses problems if
> it isn't completely washed out. He thinks the print may be more susceptible
> to "(reversible) fading in light".
>
> So.. why didn't I go straight to the source and just say this? A couple of
> reasons here. First, because I wanted to refer Maylee to Ware's instructions
> which mention only the citric bath, I didn't want to point to a good source
> of info and simultaneously make modifications. I also assumed that the kit
> contained citric for this purpose. And lastly, and maybe wrongly, I didn't
> want to start another discussion about safety and hazardous chemicals.
> Neither ntric nor hydrochloric are forgiving acids, and I don't like
> recommending their use. However, and for this I thank you Judy, it would
> have been best to post ALL the facts and save these keystrokes..
Adam, to add still more keystrokes, my association on reading the above is
to a riff I read on housework about 90 years ago. You sweep the floor &
then brush the sweepings into a dustpan, but you can't get it all over the
lip, a thin line remains on the floor, also when you dump into the
wastebasket, some spills over the side, & of course a layer remains in the
tray.... in other words you NEVER can get it all up.
So with info. There are always stray particles floating in air
unanswered. However, pending careful tests instead of the *hunch* I
perhaps rashly draw on now, the *intensity* of the blue may be comparable,
or at least within striking distance with an acid bath on *regular*
cyanotype, but I gather from what you've said recently that the New
Cyanotype is near miraculous with the SCALE or range of negative it will
print.
In which case, having an extremely difficult negative I need to print in
cyano, guess I'll have to open one or the other of the New Cyano kits
sitting in the hall these 2 years, in case they're still good...
Details might or might not follow....
Judy
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Oct 28 1999 - 21:39:38