From: Jack Fulton (jfulton@itsa.ucsf.edu)
Date: 02/20/02-10:58:33 AM Z
I have a bottle of Ansco New Coccine (scarlet) from way back in time. Maybe
from the mid-60's. I had used it early in my career along with Mercuric
Chloride as an intensifier, working with Amidol film developers and Ansel's
proportionate reducer. I was attempting to learn the "secrets" of the
medium. Though I have never been truly successful as an expert printer due
to my hasty nature and impromptu audacity, I did, at least, learn. Going out
to the studio I found it intact w/the original information.
Here it is.
Jack Fulton
New Coccine is a water-soluble, red dye supplied in powdered form. It is
dissolved and diluted to the desired degree and then applied to negative
areas lacking sufficient density. Because this dye permits printing
densities to the locally increased on the negative, it is an excellent
medium for dodging and in addition is easy and convenient to use.
Uses ---
New Coccine is particularly useful in conjunction with a negative which
has an extreme brightness range as, for example, a portrait in which the
supplementary lighting was not properly balanced with the main illumination
with resulting undesirable heavy shadows. A straight print of such a
negative is not usually as satisfactory as one in which the shadow details
have been treated with New Coccine so that the comparatively thin areas will
be partially held back while the remaining portion of the negative are being
printed. By this means highlights may be emphasized, shadow detail
intensified or middle tones differentiated to practically any extent
desired.
New Coccine should not, however, be used as an opaque for blocking out
negatives but rather as a dodging medium for modification of negative
densities and contrasts.
Directions ---
New Coccine may be applied to either the emulsion or the back coating of
the negative, but customarily the treatment is carried out on the back
coating. For use, two or three solutions of varying concentration should be
prepared in separate small bottle so that the weakest solution will produce
a slight pink coloration when applied to a clear portion of the negative.
When it is desirable to apply heavier application of New Coccine, this may
be accomplished by used the stronger dye concentration on one or, if
necessary, on both sides of the film. The dye solution is applied with a
brush for detail work or a tuft of cotton when it is necessary to treat
large areas. The work is perhaps most easily carried out when the dye
deposits are built up in a series of weak washes of color, one over the the
other. Each wash should be allowed to dray at least partially before
applying more solution.,
Directions for removing New Coccine ---
º Partially: Was negative in water
º Completely: Soak negative first in 1% solution of sodium bisulfite or
potassium Meta-bisulfite and then wash in waster
º Or soak negative in 15 to 20 minutes in 10% solution of sodium
hydrosulfite and wash 10 to 15 minutes in running water.
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