From: Christina Z. Anderson (zphoto@montana.net)
Date: 09/06/02-09:38:23 AM Z
I had no trouble doing this at all, in the warm water as Jack suggested.
And yes, it did curl up, so I taped each edge with scotch tape so it would
lay flat. That did not seem to be a problem since I was going to place a
piece of glass over it anyway to sandwich the negative with the paper below.
chris
----- Original Message -----
From: "Katharine Thayer" <kthayer@pacifier.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 1:10 AM
Subject: Peeling RC paper (Was: paper negatives)
Thanks, Jack. but it's your very instructions that I have followed so
carefully before with less than satisfactory results. And when I got the
closest to getting it right, the emulsion part rolled up like a
cigarette paper and couldn't be flattened without wrinkling it, which
didn't seem all that wonderful to me.
It's been quite a while since I was interested in doing this; I got
around the problem by using regular-weight fiber paper (soaked in warm
mineral oil for half an hour to aid translucency) for my paper
negatives and just exposed longer. Since the softness actually enhanced
the images in that particular project, it worked fine. An RC paper as
it comes out of the box was impossible for a negative for my gum
process, since the plastic backing blocked the light so effectively no
amount of exposure would harden the gum. If you're contact printing onto
silver paper or film, sure, one can use the RC paper as it is. I thought
we were talking contact negatives for alternative processes, but I guess
we've never established how the original questioner intended to use his
negatives.
My point was simply in response to the suggestion that you can peel off
the backing of an RC paper and voila, a paper negative the thickness of
the emulsion. I was just saying that in my experience it's not all that
simple, but maybe I'm the only one in the world who has trouble doing
this.
kt
Jack Fulton wrote:
>
> > As to peeling RC paper, there are always people saying that it's simple
> > to do, and I've followed all the "simple" instructions and never got a
> > clean peel. Is it possible that different brands have different
> > ease-of-peeling indexes? I use mainly Ilford papers.
>
> The 'trick' w/peeling RC emulsions from the fiber base is this:
>
> 1. Place print in water warmer than your hand but not as hot as to
> have your hand ache . . about 115 - 120º F
>
> 2. Allow to sit under water for a minute
>
> 3. While still under water, rub your forefinger on the corner of the
> RC print. Keep the print flat on the tray while doing this. A tiny
> bit of the edge will start to show. You may have to press hard with
> your finger while rubbing. Rub in only one direction: in from the
> corner.
>
> 4. When there is enough of the emulsion pulled away from the paper
> you can pinch it between your forefinger and thumb. You may have to
> use your fingernails to obtain this much. If your fingernails are too
> long or are virtually not there it makes this more difficult but a
> pair of tweezers might help.
> Anyway, grab the emulsion with your thumb and forefinger and with the
> thumb of your other hand press down the fiber portion of the layers
hard
> on the tray. OR grab the fiber portion w/the thumb and forefinger of
> your other hand. Slowly peel or pull apart.
>
> 5. It greatly aids to this under the warm to hot water. Do the peeling
> with a slow and steady motion.
>
> Voila . . . peeled RC emulsion. However, this is a rather flimsy bit of
> material and quite difficult to use as a negative IMO. It is arduous if
not
> impossible to have it lay flat enough to hold good detail throughout your
> image. The paper negative is far better. In fact, I just use the RC print
> directly and have had zero problems seeing any identifying marks of the
> manufacturer.
>
> Also, don't forget, one can easily create a negative print directly via
the
> reversal process and, again, voila, there you have an RC paper negative.
> Jack
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