From: Arie (ariek@pacbell.net)
Date: 07/25/03-09:51:27 PM Z
Hi, sorry for the long message, but I need to give all the info first.....
I need to send this out to the list, because during the past week I've been
on the phone to B&S almost everyday (this month's phone bill will be
murder). Right now it seems I have both Dana and Kevin Sullivan stumped.
First the background......the past few months I've been concentrating on Van
Dijk Bruin prints to get back in to the swing of traditional printing.
(they are relativly quick cheap and easy......kinda like me in my twentys)
When I went to switch to Kallitypes I went and tested a number of papers
with a Stoufers 21 step wedge so that I could dial every thing in. The
papers that I tested were :
Coventry Rag
Rising Stonehenge
Arches Platine
Strathmore Bristol regular surface
Cot 320
They all had fogging in the highlights that would not clear. My process was
to coat the paper and let it dry in complete darkness before exposure.
After exposure it was developed for 5 minutes in B&S Kallitype Black
developer, followed by a two minute rinse in running filtered water. This
was follwed by a clearing bath of both EDTA and citric acid then another
rinse, for the initial tests I did two batches one was toned in platinum the
other was not. This was finished with a 5% fix and a proper wash.
Initially I thought it was the lighting in the darkroom, so I changed it to
even a dimmer light than what I had. Still the same. After speaking with
Dana I tried his suggestion of processing a coated and dried sheet without
exposure....still no clearing. I even tried his other suggestion of
changing the amount of FeOx in the sensitizer....no go.
The next day I spoke with Kevin, he said its the most fickle of all the
processes (much like some old girlfriends years ago) and suggested hot
developer and maybe a new coating rod (I use thick plexi tubing)....still
the same. Though this time I punched the concentration of the clearing bath
up to 7% citric acid and 3% EDTA....there was a slightly better result.
Instead of being a dark beigey stain that appears as soon as the developer
hits it, and hangs in till the end, this time it cleared a little.
So the next day I was back on the phone with Kevin. We were left with both
of us scratching our heads, with the only thing left to try was still a more
concentrated citric acid solution. I tried it but there is still a
stain/fog.
So right now I'm waiting for new chemistry to start again from the begining.
Either that or just listen to Kevin and jump to platinum...but I would
still like to master the Kallitype and its range of colors.
Has anyone had a similar experience? If so were you able to correct it and
HOW!!!!!
Thanks in advance
Arie Knoops
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