From: Christina Z. Anderson (tracez@mcn.net)
Date: 03/31/01-12:29:07 AM Z
Just got back from lab, experimenting with this process and here are my
findings, and many more questions that maybe only Jonathan can answer.
First of all, you CAN get high volume hydrogen peroxide at the beauty
supply store. Not only was I able to get 20 and 40 volume, but 130 volume
or 35%--the real thing. They did not have it fridged, it was sitting out on
the floor, and the funny thing is the bottoms of the bottles were all
expanded out so the bottles didn't sit up straight, and leaked. The stuff
is really horrible but I bought some ($12.95). I asked the woman why she
had that strength, assuming it would fry hair. It is actually a concentrate
that you can mix for bleaching hair at a number of particular dilutions,
recipes on back. But she said (hey, this is Montana, folks) that she has a
number of people that buy it to bleach bones--it'll take everything off of a
bone and bleach it white (probably elk horns, not dead neighbors or
anything). The label on the bottle was quite alarming.
I mixed up the formula according to Coote that I previously posted,
using only 20 volume (6%) as both Jonathan and Coote recommended. I
experimented on fiber paper because I don't have any RC prints at the
moment. The first time I did it I followed Coote: I bleached the image
out, put it in 125 degree water, rubbed off all the emulsion, redeveloped in
thiocarbamide toner a la Ephraums. Worked like a charm on a very dark
image, but did come out as a solarized looking negative of the positive
print. Whites were very white, kinda cool image.
The next one I did, same image, I followed Jonathan's process, as the
first one certainly did not have wavey veils of gelatin. I bleached,
rinsed, developed in LPD, and then bleached again and redeveloped. Major
wavey emulsion, worked perfectly, looked similar to what I have seen of
Opalenik. IT was a positive image as normal. Thus, the same chemicals are
involved in both, and do the same thing in both, but the two processes are
carried out differently--Coote's you rub off all gelatin, in essence,
leaving only the etched highlights which will accept the toner and therefore
go negative on you. In Jonathan's you don't rub off all the gelatin, but
you also bleach and develop twice.
Findings: absolutely use a high contrast image from a positive for
Coote's. I bleached about 8 11x14 prints and the ones that did not have
much dark did not work as well. I can imagine RC paper would work well for
this process, but a midtone fiber print generally degraded everywhere and
the emulsion didn't rub off except in the darks.. In Jonathan's process,
the blacks really make the image--that's the part that lifts and veils the
best. Also, I did the mistake of "replenishing" the tray of perhaps
exhausted bleach with a fresh mixture, and it seemed to not work as well, so
I would, next time, dump the exhausted stuff and start with fresh. I wonder
if this is true or is it my imagination?
My numerous questions are as follows:
1) What kind of toxicity am I exposing my body to with this solution? It
really stinks. do you wear a gas mask?
2) Can I use a higher volume peroxide without increasing the other dilutions
or do I have to always keep the peroxide part equal to the 20 volume 6%
amount (e.g. can I use the straight 130vol with equal amounts of copper
solution and make it work faster)?
3) Why develop twice? I got plenty of veiling with the first go around.
4) I hope the following is not stupid: if you redevelop in developer, you
don't have to fix do you? You did not have that written in your notes,
Jonathan, so I am assuming it is not a step in this process. Plus, isn't
there something dangerous about the combination of these chemicals with fix?
5) How many prints does the bleach stuff do? I did about 6-8 11x14's in a
little over a liter of mix.
6) Does developer contaminate the bleach solution or bleach contaminate the
developer? In other words, do you have to be careful about drips back and
forth during the two developing/bleaching processes?
5)Do I need to dispose of it specially, or can it go down the drain?
6) You do all of this by room light, correct?
7) Should I expect to have all over stain of the highlights and borders of
the print with redevelopment in developer or thiocarbamide?
That's probably enough of a summing up for now. I did not experiment
with Coote's reexposure of an image on top of the bleached image yet--will
try that next go around. Unfortunately, it is so smelly in our
not-so-well-ventilated gang lab that I cannot do the process when students
are there..
Chris
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