From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 09/11/02-10:12:39 PM Z
On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
>
> > > Still, bleach etch does not necessarily result in a negative
> gelatin
> > > relief. It can run the gamut from a negative to part negative and
> positive,
> > > because the highlights in a print do not dissolve, and when redeveloped,
> > > remain positive.
> >
> > True, the highlights don't dissolve with the peroxide (only developed--
> > metallic -- silver is destroyed). But if you re-expose the print to light
> > at this point, which you do in the process I did, the highlights develop
> > up black. Or maybe not fully black, since the handling lowers D-max, but
> > not really positive any more. Is there some way of keeping them white?
> >
> This is what I am saying: it is still positive. Yes, they develop back
> completely normal, not only "white" but from your lightest highlights to
> your darker midtones. The bleach etch only dissolves the blacks. This is
> with copper chloride, mind you, not copper sulfate. When I used copper
> sulfate it seemed my print had to be printed quite darker in order to
> reachieve the right tones in the redevelopment. But this process is mostly
> used on previously developed and fixed prints, and the only time you get
> black in the place of the highlights is if you do not fix first, do the
> mordancage, and then expose the print to light, redevelop and then fix for
> the first time.
Well that's what I assumed you were doing. It surely seemed to me that the
beauty & point of the process is to REDEVELOP the unfixed print after
rooting out the black silver. That's the most fun, because full of
surprises & a more dramatic change. Have you tried it? The other is just a
wavy version of what you began with.
Incidentally, I did it with copper chloride, then all same ingredients but
copper sulfate. Seemed to work about the same.
J.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 10/01/02-03:47:09 PM Z CST