Jonathan Bailey (quryhous@midcoast.com)
Mon, 05 Jul 1999 11:17:33 +0000
Greetings-
I posted the following to the alt-photo-process list in late April of this
year. I am taking the liberty of re-posting it to this list in response to
Jane Thomas' request for information.
BTW - I am teaching a class at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY
beginning Monday, July 12th which will feature prominently the mordancage
process. Contact me off-list if you wish more information.
Best - Jon Bailey
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I will attempt to share with the group my mordancage process notes, as well
as a little background which might prove useful.
In late 1996, new to the internet and to this list, I posted a request for
information about the mordancage process and received a smattering of
useful, if somewhat random, information. In addition to the list-posted
information I also heard from Jean-Daniel Lemoine in Paris who kindly put
me in touch with an expert in mordancage who lives in the Loire Valley,
Pierre-Louis Martin. I was in Paris in the spring of '97 and met with
several very fine photographers - many of them members of this list - as
well as arranging a brief meeting with Pierre-Louis while he was in Paris
on gallery business. Nothing could have more emphatically demonstrated to
me the potential and power of the internet than my request made to this
list about mordancage!
The work that Pierre-Louis shared with me - something approaching 100
mordancage images, arranged in portfolios - was astounding! While I'd seen
a small number of Jean-Pierre Sudre's mordancage prints, as well as a small
selection of Elizabeth Opalenik's unique work in the process, I'd never
seen anything like Pierre-Louis' work: mordancage images which had been
exotically toned (and split-toned?) in addition to the etching and
emulsion-lifting from the mordancage. A selection of his work (along with
four-color gravures from Jean-Daniel Lemoine, among others) were exhibited
last summer in Boston at the alt-process show arranged at The White
Elephant Gallery. I will send and ask Pierre-Louis (through a friend of
his, he has no computer) if there are images of his on the web other than
the three (regrettably poor) reproductions posted at
<http://www.multimania.com/gapcho/> - (click on "Les Fables de la Fontaine
par Pierre-Louis Martin" at the home page).
Pierre-Louis had worked extensively with Sudre for many years before
Sudre's death last year. Pierre-Louis is teaching workshops in France, but
I am unsure if these classes focus on his work in gum (and other
alt-processes) or if they also include mordancage.
As I live in the shadow of The Maine Photo Workshops (15 miles away),
former students of Craig Stevens are thick on the ground. It was through
one of these acquaintances that I first heard of mordancage and saw some
prints. Craig continues to teach this process at his (and Chris James')
week-long class each summer in Rockport (probably the single most popular
class at The Workshops every year), and he apparently includes it in his
classes at Savannah School of Art as well.
Craig also knew Sudre *very* well (telling me last summer during our brief
meeting, "He was like a father to me....") - spending time in France with
him each year during his Provence workshop. Craig has been working with
this process for years (if not decades) and is clearly an expert on the
process. Curiously, neither Craig nor Pierre-Louis were aware of each
other. I have a small selection of Pierre-Louis' prints, as well as a few
color reproductions which he was willing to share with me for my classes,
and I showed Craig this work last summer while he was in town.
It has been suggested that mordancage is another name for the historic
"etch/bleach" mentioned in vintage references, and this may well be valid.
These hgistoric references, however, seem to suggest utilizing this process
*before* the final fix, clear and washing of the print - which is not the
present case. These old references may well be an excellent source for
tweaking one's practice of the mordancage process once successful results
are obtained. I am very much under the impression that *mordancage*,
whatever the similarities it may have to the historic etch/bleach
processes, is creditable to Jean-Pierre Sudre. Craig refers to it as
"Mordancage - As perfected by Jean-Pierre Sudre." At the very least, I
think it's safe to say that Sudre considered his use of the process
"proprietary" (perhaps setting the tone for other practitioners of the
process).
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My Formula and process notes:
I am quite sure that the following has at its core the handout Craig
Stevens gives to his classes. Don Upp posted to this list a couple years
ago (after one of Craig's classes?) a prose version similar to the
following information....
That being said (and to be perhaps tediously scrupulous in giving proper
credit), it is the work that Chris Pinchbeck did with his work/study
classes at The Rockport College (yes, it's now accredited) that clarified
things for me last year and allowed for such successful results in my
workshops. He very generously shared with me the particulars of his use of
the process and I thank him!
The mordancage solution:
750 ml water (cool or cold)
10 grams - copper chloride
25 to 35 ml - 40 (or 30) volume hydrogen peroxide
50 ml - glacial acetic acid
water to make one liter
Use:
* Bleach a well washed print in the mordancage solution for 3 minutes (wear
gloves and work with good ventilation!), followed by a 15 minute wash.
* Redevelop the print in any of the following (but not limited to the
following!):
Dektol at 1:5
weak or nearly exhausted Dektol
Sulfide toner (Part B) - weak, used of full strength
Polytoner, Brown toner, or thiourea redevoloper
(Whatever else seems worth trying)
* Rinse the print under running water. You might allow the print to sit
out in the air 5-10 minutes (or longer) to oxidize, perhaps adding to the
coloration of the final print.... or NOT! maybe you can't wait to see this
thing, so you plunge ahead to the next step immediately.
* Back into the mordancage solution - "timed" by inspection. At this point
you might take a cotton ball and rub the emulsion off of the print -
partially or completely - as the image and whim dictates.
Further, you may also observe at this point that entire sections of
emulsion - the darkest areas of the print - are floating in suspension, but
still (barely) attached to the print. You may wish to rearrange and/or
reapply this emulsion area to the print - in the manner of a Polaroid lift.
Elizabeth Opalenik has turned this into her signiture manoeuvre with this
process.
* Redevelop or tone the print once again. Use stop bath to halt this
action when judged complete. Wash the print for 30 minutes. (This wash may
not be a real option if you have done emulsion manipulations, as it will be
too fragile. Some sort of washing is obviously suggested - but then again,
*not* thoroughly washing can lead to further color shifts over time, shifts
which may, for the open-minded, be interesting - although not strictly
archival as a technique!)
* Screen dry
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The choice of the image seems more important than the choice of paper with
this process - warm and cold toned papers seem equally suited (Brovira was
Sudre's favorite), as does the use of RC paper. Print color is certainly
affected by the choice of paper, as well as the redevelpers put to use.
Photograms seem very popular with this process (an inclination underwritten
by Sudre's work?), although I have not gone that route with my own
experiments - and the student work in my workhops have thus far all been
images from negatives.
I have not attempted any of the split-toning processes I employ on my own
work subsequent to the mordancage of the print. It is an area I wish to
explore. I believe Pierre-Louis is toning his images (subsequent to the
mordancage? - I am guessing) in things like coppper and blue toners (?),
and is achieving beautiful effects. Most of Pierre-Louis' work
incorporates at least some photograms in the image....
I am unaware of any published information on this process. If someone
knows of information in print, or of information in the old references
which seems pertinent, I'd love to hear about it! Further, I'd love to
hear (more) from those people who are working/have worked with the process
previously and whose practice of it differs from the info I've posted here.
(I was interested to hear of successful results with the weaker hydrogen
peroxide, for example.)
Good luck - I'd love to see postings on the list about people's progress
with this wonderful process!
Jonathan Bailey
St. George, Maine
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