From: Sandy King (sanking@clemson.edu)
Date: 02/24/03-04:53:46 PM Z
Scott wrote:
>
>Sandy wrote:
>
>Stevens did a lot of experimentation with additives such as gum
>arabic in an attempt to keep more of the sensitizer at or near the
>surface of the paper to improve apparent sharpness, but in practice
>getting a smooth coating with any amount of colloid added to the
>sensitizer is extremely difficult.
>
>This is interesting; while waiting to see if there was a response to
>my post I tried adding gum arabic to the sensitizer - 4 drops per 5
>ml. I got a much smoother and even coating - almost velvety - on
>Stonehenge and Coventry Rag than without the addition. I also got a
>much richer dark-chocolate color with a double strength GP-1 gold
>toning bath prior to fixing. My method is to tape the paper by 2
>corners to a sheet of glass, apply the sensitizer to the top edge
>with a syringe, and to spread with a rod until the gloss is gone. I
>then dry the front and back with a hairdryer on the cool setting.
I should add that I took Stevens at his word regarding the level of
difficulty in getting an even coating with a colloid added to the
sensitizer and must confess that I have personally never tested the
concept. His book is not a very good manual for making kallitypes but
I have a great deal of respect for the methodology and exhaustiveness
of his testing procedures so trusted his results on this.
One question. Did you make comparison prints to see if the addition
of the the small amount of gum arabic made any difference in the
final appearance of the image? I am not certain if you attribute the
richer chocolate color to the use of gum arabic or to the use of GP-1
toning prior to fixing.
Sandy
>
>I agree whole-heartedly about the richness and color of pre-fix
>toning. I did notice quite a bit of bleaching of the print in the
>fix without prior toning. Speaking of toning, did you get my short
>post about sepia toning kallitypes? Any thoughts (wish I had a site
>up so you can view the test prints)
I must have missed that. Will look back through the archives.
Sandy
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