From: Andre Fuhrmann (Andre.Fuhrmann@uni-konstanz.de)
Date: 06/23/00-06:30:45 AM Z
Hi All!
After the first messages on salted papers on Wednesday I felt an itch
to try it out. So I coated Arches Aquarelle twice with salted (3%)
gelatine (2%) and after thorough drying applied silver nitrate 12%
twice. What I found left mixed feelings. The images printed out
vvvvery nicely but after fixing (5% hypo) they were reduced to very
flat images indeed. More overexposing didn't help the flat
appearance. So I suppose that the process is for _extremely_ hard
negs only. and indeed with my hardest negs I got some acceptable
results -- but only after I watered down the hypo to 2-3% where I
left the prints for 8 mins. Now I naturally wonder how stable the
images will be. Frustration came to a climax when I perused my
beautiful Nadar book (published by Schirmer & Mosel). The Nadar
prints are so stunningly beautiful with their luminous shadows and
bright but well-separated highlights! How on earth did he do it? I
conclude that the salted paper process has very great potential but
is also very far from being fool-proof. One possible source of my
ill-success is perhaps the use of household salt. Perhaps it is too
impure for the purpose, leading to chemical fogging. But then, how
pure was the salt Nadar used in the 1860s?? The salt I used
contained also some iodide which, I guess, enhances the tendency to a
warm brown tone.
As to the comparison with vandykes, I side -- as yet -- with Judy.
It strikes me as a much simpler process, easier to control, better
suited for nearly normal negatives and, not to forget, cheaper. As
to their permanence: As I write this I look at a test vandyke stuck
to my window 7 months ago. I covered half of it with black carton
(probably _not_ acid-free), the other half faces the sun for a couple
of hours every day: as yet no visible change. That indicates a good
deal of permanence, though, of course, we may have to wait another
300 months to pass a judgement with more confidence.
Andre
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