From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 02/24/03-08:35:16 PM Z
On Mon, 24 Feb 2003, Keith Gerling wrote:
> 1) I've used hundreds of different colors, both from the tube, and as dry
> pigments, and I've found NO colors that "didn't work". Certainly some are
> stronger, and some have a strong tendency to stain (use them as a 3rd or 4th
> coat), but all colors "work". Some blues and greens (cerulean, cobalt, for
> instance) seem to be rather weak. Whites can be tricky. There is often a
That's my feeling too... but I wanted to add that in MANY cases nowadays
if you read the label (or the manufacturer's specs) you'll see that those
colors aren't actually used anyway, but something called, say "cerulean
shade" or whatever. Sometimes that's because the original color has
almost no covering power, so a stronger mix is made, or the color is
fugitive but the traditional term is used, or now ecologically bad, like
cadmium, or just got very expensive. For example, we used to do a thing
about terra verte when we studied watercolor, a great connoisseur's color,
but with VERY little covering power -- now I see something called terra
verte is sold, but if you look at the label you'll see it's actually thalo
green (very strong covering power) with white (& maybe something else).
Which brings me to the point that you CAN NOT make generalisations about
color without the brand name attached... not only does each mfr. have
their own additives, the amount of pigment versus filler varies greatly --
usually by price. They also may have gotten their, for instance, burnt
sienna, from different mines... I once tried 6 brands of "burnt sienna"
-- all were a different color & different strength. (And though the Wilcox
book on watercolors, at least the first edition, was a big pain -- it was
TERRIFIC on actual ingredients by brand name.)
That BTW is another reason the gum chapter in the "Ansel Adams" so-called
"guide" (directed by ahem... initials were DS) was meaningless -- it gave
ratios for "ideal" gum emulsion by *color* name, without mention of
manufacturer.
> 4) The lemon juice trick never worked for me. I get similar results by
> "flashing" the print: expose the entire print to light for a tad, then
> insert the neg.
I believe you can get similar effect by leaving the coated paper for a day
before exposing... or leaving the mixed emulsion a day before coating, tho
those effects also depend on the strength of the sensitizer. AND of course
the temperature/humidity :- (
J.
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