From: Ed Buffaloe (EdBuffaloe@UnblinkingEye.Com)
Date: 01/04/03-05:07:30 PM Z
I can't answer any of your questions, but I do note that Dick Stevens'
chapter on the Brown Print also contains a formula from The Photo-Miniature
of January 1900 which uses ferric citrate and ferric oxalate instead of FAC.
The image "prints out fully" and is fixed in a 2% ammonia solution. I do
get the impression that brown print has been used to represent any formula
that is ferric-silver but doesn't require a special developer. I wouldn't
consider the boric acid a "developer," but merely an additive, since I also
use citric acid in my wash for VDB.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sandy King" <sanking@clemson.edu>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 12:37 PM
Subject: VDB is "Brownprint" process?
>
> This message has a comment and a question.
>
> First, the comment. On p. 167-68 Christopher James describes a
> process he calls the "Brownprint." The difference between this
> process and regular VDB are said to be that 1) it uses oxalic acid
> in place of tartaric acid, and that 2) development is in a mixture of
> borax and water rather than in plain water. It is also stated that
> after proper exposure there is a "stage whisper" of an image as in
> kallitype, which suggests that the "Brownprint" is a DOP process and
> not POP like VDB.
>
> OK, I mixed the sensitizing solution as per James and tried his
> "Brownprint." The results were very disappointing. Sensitivity was
> very much less than what one sees with VDB, about two full stops.
> Also, I tested development in both plain water and in the borax acid
> mixture and there was no difference at all. Finally, the image before
> development was much more similar to what one sees with VDB than with
> kallitype.
>
> If anyone else has tried the "Brownprint" process as described by
> James and gotten good results I would be interested in having some
> details of your work.
>
> Next, the question.
>
> In all of the previous literature at my disposal, including Dick
> Stevens' book on the kallitype, the term "Brownprint" is used to
> describe a form of printing that most of us understand as VDB. That
> is, the sensitizer is based on ferric ammonium citrate, tartarid acid
> and silver nitrate. Does anyone know the historical origin of James'
> use of the term, which differentiates it from regular VDB?
>
> Sandy King
>
>
>
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