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Argyrotype my experience and questions



Hello out there.....

This is a repost from a mail i send about two weeks ago that never semed to
arrive...


I have been using the argyrotype process for about half a year now.
It works well with archess aquarel paper(more neutal color good wet strengt)
and similli yapon (warmer poor wet strengt cheap). i like the process, it
gives me high density and nice tone. It reacts good to gold toner
(tetanal)giving me warme brown/purple tone). Paper choice is crusial as is
the addition of enough (not to much) tween for take up in the fibres (makes
all the difference when using arches aquarelle)

There is one problem that i encounter in some pictures. The coated parts of
the paper not covered by the negastive, i exclude from exposure by using a
red film. After i finished the print (wash in plain water, hypo 2%)nothing
seems to be the matter. But i do have a few prints no (half a year later)
that show a stain i the borders outside the image. It looks a bit brown.
Also i have a print that i treated with copper toner (as a test). Initially
i was very plaesed withe the result. The green of the copper toner
neutralised the brown/purple of the print som naking it look very neutral
warm blak and white.(a friend af mine thought it was a platinum). Now, a few
motns later the color is not what it used to be, But more importand there is
a color schange in the whites to yellow. And the stain outside the image is
stronger than in other print i have made.

In the light of the discussion i think that fading and color change may be
more a matter of getting all the residual shemicals out of the print after
exposure (clearing) than the uv from lights sourses. 

This proposes another question to me: Does anybody in the group have
suggestions or recepies for clearing argyrotypes and or van dyke's?
I am personaly thinking in the direction of hypo clearing agend but maybe
ther's somthing better?


Greeting from holland
Gerard de Vrueh



-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Robert Lyman [mailto:railroad@northweb.com]
Verzonden: dinsdag 18 juli 2000 0:49
Aan: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
Onderwerp: 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.jp
g
>
>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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