My first VanDykes & questions

Hi all,

I started to do VanDykes this weekend. I like it better than Cyanotype
(nice warm pleasing to the eye hue and much faster, evaluating exposure
is much easier too).

Now, a short story followed by few questions:

I prepared the A solution by adding 27gr green Ferric Ammonium Citrate
to 100ml double distilled water - stirred well, and then B solution by
adding 4.5gr Tartaric Acid to 100ml double distilled water - stirred
well and poured B solution into the A solution, stirred vigorously for
about 30 secs then put aside (all stirring with a plastic spoon). I
prepared the C solution by adding 12gr Silver Nitrate to 100ml double
distilled water after that, as I hadn't read well the mixing instruction
in Christopher James' book (and the VanDyke article by Wynn White @
unblinkingeye.com) I just poured the C solution quickly and completely
to the combined A + B solutions and became the happy(!) and proud(!)
owner of a VanDyke sensitizer with a considerable amount of sludgy
green/white precipitate in it!!! :)

1) I just filtered the precipitate and using the sensitizer that way
now; can the precipitate formation and the filtering of it ruin the
quality, contrast, color ect. of my prints (no big problems other than
low contrast so far)? Should I remake the sensitizer?

2) Even filtered, a very small amount of precipitate was left in the
sensitizer bottle. I tried to coat paper both with and without shaking
the bottle and noticed no perceptible change in the results; is that
normal?

3) The contrast of the emulsion and dMax is very low. Again, Is that
normal? Even the most constrasty negatives I have used produced flat
prints (pinhole negatives exposed half the ISO and developed 20% more).
If I print for the highlights the shadows remain very poor. If I print
for the shadows, the highlights are muddy, lifeless. I'm working on a
suitable inkjet negative curve right now. I tried double coating, dMax
improved slightly (not much, but it is more acceptable) but the
highlight problem worsened. I even tried to develop in a first bath of
1lt water with a pinch of citric acid and 10 drops of saturated
potassium dichromate in it. Not much difference (the hue changed to red
side though - less brown than previous prints). What can you suggest? (I
guess I'm going to give up with inkjet and pinhole negatives and go for
high contrast enlarged negatives on lithographic film)

See an example (single coat) here:
http://abone.tnn.net/lorism/vandyke-diptych.jpg

Can you please help me with VanDykes? I would like to hear your
experiences and suggestions.

Best regards,
Loris.
Received on Wed Nov 12 16:18:29 2003