From: Don Bryant (dsbryant@telocity.com)
Date: 01/25/01-08:55:13 PM Z
Judy,
> Don, the only possible explanation is that you're under a spell,
Of course I am, I was born on Halloween!
> Here's how you break the spell:
>
> Throw out hake brush for cyano -- feh ! Get nice soft foam applicator,
> about 3 " wide, the kind with the wooden handle,
I've got one!
> about 50 cents at
> hardware store. Put a dropperful of distilled water on it, then work in
> with fingers, not enough water to dilute the emulsion, just enough to
> slightly dampen the foam.
>
Check!
> Now pour your A&B solution together into a dish (I use a desert dish from
I've calibrated on New Cyanotype which I don't think you endorse.
> Alaska airlines, bought as surplus) just wide enough to take the
> applicator & slosh or stir,
I have a Rubber Maid bowl with Cyanotype marked on the lid. Will that work?
:~)
> then dip applicator a bit til it's nicely
> loaded. Then, holding applicator straight up so just tip touches the
> paper, QUICKLY stroke left to right (dipping again as needed), then top to
> bottom, then again left to right. Should be enough. But a 4th crossing for
> good measure is fine, too.
>
Check!
> Note, by the way, that a row of strokes must begin always at same edge,
> that is, don't do back and forth in continuous delivery. Rather, lift the
> applicator & return quickly to starting side for each new stroke. That way
> pressure will be even in each strip. Back-and-forth can give a striped
> effect because you press differently at beginning of stroke than you do on
> end of stroke.
>
Check!
> However, if you try to do this by buglight or safelight -- a pox on you,
> streaks will haunt you forever. Only way is by low room light or tungsten,
> or truth to tell, fluorescent if it's a ways away. Doesn't matter a
> witch's whisker.
Dry in the dark and it's all the same.
>
" Double, double, toil and trouble, .... "
Check!
> When it's coated, angle paper -- or angle your head --
My head is already angled, so no problem.
> into the light so
> you can see reflection of the wet. You can now tell if it's even. If you
> see puddling, discharge the applicator a bit on edge of dish and go over
> once more to mop up. If you see bare spots and no puddling, dip a bit more
> from the dish & cover again. If you see puddling *and* bare spots, you
> probably can redistribute without redipping. (Puddles tend to wash off &
> leave white blobs, tasty in borders, less so in person's head, as
> explained P-F #5.)
>
> As far as puddle pusher for classic cyano goes -- diabolical. Bury it at
> the crossroads at midnight.
>
"Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
Check!
> One other thing: What paper are you using? An absorbent unsized waterleaf?
Well not quite. I haven't tried Kleenex Cottonell yet but it is on my list.
But for the record, I've tried Cranes #90 Bright White and Natural White,
Fabriano Uno, hardened and gelatenized, Canson Bristol, and Bienfang 360.
Thanks to Dan Donovan, a.k.a. fishy, I'm using an 8% glacial bath to clear
in followed by a plain water bath and finally a dip in highly dilute 3%
hydrogen peroxide. I have no problems with leaching of the Prussian Blue
from the paper the way I experienced with AB Cyanotype.
> PS. My studio has RH of the Mohabi desert (in the low 30s), does nothing
> to coating that I've noticed.
>
I've raised the humidity to above 50% by running hot water in my sink and
that does improve coating, I have actually coated successfully a few times
just not consistently, But since natural gas is going for $1.14 a therm that
method of humidification has been curtailed. Does anyone have a humitifier
to recommend?
Thanks for your help,
Don Bryant
P.S. I've been quite inspired by John Dugdale's work. There are three of his
prints being exhibited in the Atlanta High Museum's photography specatacle,
"Elton John's:Chorus of Light". More on that later
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