Re: New Cyanotype - my first unsuccessful attempt

From: Loris Medici <loris_medici@mynet.com>
Subject: Re: New Cyanotype - my first unsuccessful attempt
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 01:51:37 +0300

> James' book say:
>
> "... Mike notes in his book on the New Cyanotype Process that there are
> indications the citric acid may make the print more suspectible to fading.
> Because of this, he is now, as of 2000, recommending the use of 1% nitric or
> hydrochloric acid in place of the citric acid ..."
>
> Even if the "exact cause" of this assumption ("the print may be more
> suspectible to fading") is veiled, this is pretty enough for me (a humble
> mortal) to reconsider using citric acid for clearing New Cyanotype ;)

I understand you'd be on the conservative side when unsure about
things like this, but unless someone do necessary experiments and
report the results, and show that citric acid and light can fade but
nitric acid (or others) treated prints don't fade even under a lighted
display condition and compared against dark stored samples, how do you
know whether nitric acid (or whatever you choose) is safe? And unless
you or someone tests for sure, how could one know whether an
alternative to nitric acid is really safe to the image? It's not my
issue how people go about this problem, but I just thought to give a
bit of critical view here.

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"You have to realize that junk is not the problem in and of itself.
Junk is the symptom, not the problem."
(Bob Dylan 1971; source: No Direction Home by Robert Shelton)