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Re: Permanency of VDB (test)



At 02:56 PM 7/19/00 +0200, you wrote:
>Like many others I have been wondering about the permanency of VDB 
>prints.  So I did a little test.  I partly covered a reject print with 
>black paper and stuck it to my window, facing the sun for a couple of 
>hours each day (well, on sunny days).  That was in December last 
>year.  Today (after more than 7 months) the window cleaners dropped into 
>my office and so I thought it may be time to have a closer look at what 
>has happened to the print.  Here is the result:
>
>http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Philo/Philosophie/Fuhrmann/themen/VDBtest.jpg
>
>The scan faithfully reproduces the print (at least on my screen).  I would 
>describe it as follows:  The fading is only vvvery slight.  It is more 
>like putting a silver print through Farmer's thus enhancing 
>contrast.  More noticeable than the fading is the alteration in tone. The 
>exposed part has assumed a warmer brown.  So in sum: the print has become 
>slightly more contrasty and warmer in tone.  With many images that could 
>be an improvement.  In such cases we should not speak of faded but of 
>matured vandykes ;-)
>
>Please note that I deliberately underfixed the print -- after all I wanted 
>to test a worst case scenario.  I washed only a few minutes and fixed for 
>1 minute in plain hypo 2% followed by a 20 minutes wash.
>
>André
Andre

Thank you for posting this print.  I've been wondering about this 
myself.  Palladium is getting way too expensive and I have been considering 
alternatives.

Does anybody have any experience or comments on the argyrotype process?
Thanks,

Bob
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