From: Scott Wainer (smwbmp@starpower.net)
Date: 10/05/03-06:40:25 PM Z
Re: Fresson Process Because of the number of people requesting information on this process, I am posting its description to the list rather than tie my computer up sending so many e-mails. Also, due to the length of the article I will break it up into 3 parts.
Please note that the formatting (and possibly spelling) was slightly changed from the original text by my OCR program.
From:
Handbook of Photography
Keith Henney and Beverley Dudley
1939, New York and London,
Whittelsey House division of The McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Variations in Contrast
For normal sensitizing, the softest contrast is obtained when the paper is printed to such a depth that it will develop satisafctorily after 1 min. soaking at 88F. Deeper printing, up to double the normal time, with the use of a warmer soaking water, up to 96F., gives marked increase of contrast; this latter technique tends to give a grainy texture to the print which may be undesirable.
If this method of control is not desired, greater contrast may be obtained by the use of a weaker sensitizer, say 1/2 or 1/4 of 1 per cent, together with a correspondingly longer printing time - two to four times normal - and a soaking water at the standard temperature of 88F. Over printing and a warmer water may also be used in conjunction with the weaker sensitizing.
If softer prints than normal are wanted, the sensitizer may be used stronger than 1 per cent, with correspondingly shoter printing. It is not advisable, however, to attempt to use the sensitizer stronger than 5 per cent at most, since above this concentration it will tend to strip the emulsion from the paper.
Local Modifications
It is extreamely easy to make local modifications of values. Extra weight may be given to an area by avoiding it in pouring the soup, or by tilting the support at such an angle that the soup does not run over the portion which is left to be dark. Broad areas may be lightened by pouring the soup from a greater height, so that it stikes the print with more violence in some places more than in others; this technique, however, is likely to result in a grainy appearence in the finished print. Still greater lightening may be secured by the use of a soft brush, though this must be applied carefully, a little at a time, if scratcheds and brush marks are to be avoided. It is best to rinse the print free of sawdust, place it in a tray of cool water, and work under the surface of the water. However, it is sometimes necessary, in order to secure the maximum effect, to work in the air. However, by working carefully, it is possible to carry this local modification very far indeed whithout it becoming apparent; in this respect, Fresson is far more flexible than carbon, and almost as much so as gum.
Javelle Water
It is sometimes recommended that the Fresson paper be greatly overprinted and given a preliminary soaking in Javelle water before development. The writer has found this technique to be altogether unsatisfactory; the great desirability of Fresson lies in the extreamely delicate manner in which it renders the gradations of the negative, together with the beauty of the surface of the finished print, but the treatment with Javelle water increases the contrast, loses the finer gradations, and gives a coarse and grainy texture to the surface. The result is quite foreign to the best expression possible with the medium.
Final remarks
If the print is too dark when dry, it may be soaked until limp in cool water, placed for 1 min. in water 2 or 3 degrees warmer than was used in the original development, and then developed still further with the sawdust. This treatment may be repeated several times and does no harm.
It is ordinarily recommended that Fresson prints be spotted by softening an unsensitized piece of the paper in warm water and using the pigmented gelatin thus loosened, applying it with a brush. This is necessary when large areas are to be spotted, especially if they are in the darker portions of the print, as any great amount of penciling will leave a shiny mark. But for small spotting the writer prefers to use a carbon spotting pencil (sharpened to a needle point on sandpaper) and stippling rather than stroking, this being much easier than the brush method.
If for any reason the finished Fresson seems too dull and heavy, it may be given the brilliant appearence of a wet print by waxing, as described in the section on Platinum Printing, though this, of course, destroys the inherent beauty of the matte surface.
If greater strength or richness is desired in a somewhat weak Fresson, this may be secured by coating the finished print with a gum-pigment mixture, printing and developing as described in the section on Gum Printing. Both waxing and the addition of a printing of gum are more satisfactory on the rough Fresson paper than on the smooth.
At its best, Fresson may fairly be considered a worthy rival of platinum, its long scale of gradation, rich blacks, and matte surface giving it a good claim in this respect. It does not, it is true, admit the use of the more beautiful paper supports, but on the hand it is far more flexable than platinum in the matter of local modifications. The finest expression of the process is secured by printing as lightly as possible, using relatively cool water for soaking - sometimes as low as 86 or even 84F. - and developing slowly and gently, pouring the sawdust easily and lightly with no violence whatever. This techniqu means slow development - the writer not infrequently spends an hour or more in developing an 8- by 10- in. print - but the result amply repays the trouble involved if the worker cares for exquisite print quality.
Bibliography
Anderson, Paul L.: The Fresson Process, Am. Phot., October, 1935, p. 597
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