On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Randall Webb wrote:
> Hello. I have just joined the list and was interested to see mention
> of my friend Allan Jenkins and his cyanotypes. His method of toning
> them is quite original as he dips them in cold tea. If they are
> printed on white paper the tea stains it to a rich cream colour and
> the somewhat unpleasant characteristic Prussian blue colour is changed
> to darker richer blue. Martin Reed of Silverprint and I were so
> impressed with his work that we used one of his images in our newly
> published textbook on old processes which is entitled Spirits of
> Salts. -Randall Webb
Randall, I've seen that book mentioned before. Can you tell us more about
it? For instance, is it for sale in the colonies? Has it got a naked lady
on the cover? Could you mention the table of contents????
HOWEVER, PLEASE PERMIT ME TO SHOUT ! (Sorry this system doesn't permit
really BIG letters, like 9 feet high in flames...), the "characteristic
Prussian blue" is not only not *unpleasant*, it is absolutely meltingly
swooningly gorgeous. I mean we knew that, as looking at cyanotypes makes
perfectly plain, for instance, as I've mentioned on this list, John
Dugdale's, and today I saw a stunningly gorgeous blue from Tom Ferguson,
and Sunday at the Photographica Fair in downtown NYC saw (and mooned over
for the 3rd time) Larry Gottheim's album of old cyanotypes, all (please
give me strength), for sale.
When you write "colour," I know you're in albion somewhere -- maybe it's
the water?
Finally, permit me to add, that gorgeous as Jenkins' prints may be (and
from the great pictures in Martin Reed's Silver Emulsion book, I assume
they are)...dipping in cold or even hot tea is a time-honored practice...
popular these many years with my undergraduate students, a couple of whom,
for variable-test assignments, compared colors from Chinese, Pekoe,
Darjeeling and so forth. However the stain to the paper base is not
everyone's, excuse me, dish of tea.
Best,
Judy
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| Judy Seigel, Editor >
| World Journal of Post-Factory Photography > "HOW-TO and WHY"
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