From: Neil Miller (neil@miller.gioserve.com)
Date: 01/21/03-02:48:48 AM Z
Thanks for your advice Cor - after repeated tests I now add citric acid to
the wash water and do the gold-toning. Like you, I find that it slightly
alters the colour of most papers favourably, towards a darker chocolate
tint. I have increased the amount of plain hypo to 35g per litre of water
and no longer have the bleaching effect I described earlier - many thanks!
Regards,
Neil.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Breukel, C. (HKG)" <C.Breukel@lumc.nl>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 11:34 AM
Subject: RE: Vandyke brownprints - silvery deposit
> Neil,
>
> Some suggestions (FWIW I have processed VDB with the same chemistry and
> double coating, I do not have the problems you describe, but..)
>
> I use a acidified first wash for 5 minutes (a samll spoon of citric acid
in
> a tray of water)
>
> I would strongly suggest to do a gold toning (Pt or Pd) step, before
fixing,
> do rinse after tone and before fix. The toning increases permanence
> considerably, cahnges the colour (favourably IMHO), and bleaching in the
fix
> should (hardly) not occur.
>
> Do a 2 bath fixing step 5% hypo, about 2 min. per bath(fix in the first
> bath, discard this one, than to the second bath, which becomes first bath
> after that and pour fresh fixer in the second tray)
>
> See also: http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Vandyke/vandyke.html
>
> Best,
>
> Cor
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Neil Miller [mailto:neil@miller.gioserve.com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 11:10 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
> Subject: Vandyke brownprints - silvery deposit
>
>
> Hello.
> I have recently started making vandyke brownprints and am having a problem
> with a silvery deposit over part of the image, not unlike that often seen
on
> old b&w photos. It occurs about 70% of the time and is most apparent on
> darker areas of the print and on papers I have double-coated (which
usually
> exhibit a silvery or white line where the top coat has not overlapped the
> bottom coat).
>
> It appears to be a very fine layer of sparkling crystal deposits that is
not
> only on the surface of the paper, but trapped within the upper fibres. It
> is more pronounced on papers with a rough surface, but is still very
> apparent of BFK and Saunders Waterford. The only paper that does not have
a
> trace of the problem is Daler 96gsm smooth white cartridge from an artists
> sketchpad, but this is too thin and wrinkle-prone for me to process
> succesfully.
>
> I make three solutions up, each with 35ml of distilled water. (A) has 10g
> of green ferric ammonium citrate, (B) has 1.5g tartaric acid and (C) has
4g
> silver nitrate. All are well stirred until dissolved. (A) is added to
(B)
> and well stirred then (C) is added drop by drop while stirring. The
> solution is left to age, filtered, then applied with a hake brush or a
foam
> applicator. The paper is left to dry in a warm, dark room overnight or is
> force-dried with a fan heater. All work takes place in a windowless room
> illuminated with a 100watt bulb, positioned well away from the work area.
I
> have used a 40watt bulb and a red safe light, but can see no difference
and
> no evidence of fogging, so have gone back to the 100watt bulb.
>
> I expose for between 4 and 15 minutes (depending on the neg) under a bank
of
> UV lights, rinse under running tapwater for 5 mins, fix in a bath of 25g
> plain hypo crystals in 100cc of tapwater for 2 mins then wash for 20 mins.
> I used to use 50g of hypo crystals to a litre of water and fix for 5 mins,
> but this seriously bleached the prints to an unacceptable degree. The
print
> turns a gorgeous colour when it hits the fix, but then fades away, hence
the
> lower concentration (2.5%?).
>
> I am tempted to think that the fix is not removing all the residual
silver,
> but I have heard of people who omit the fix altogether and they have not
> reported this problem. I do change the fix frequently. If anyone has any
> ideas, I would be very grateful to read them.
>
> Many thanks,
> Neil.
>
>
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