Re: argyrotype help please

Thanks, Tony.

I started sizing the Crane's because I wasn't getting a good Dmax and
thought the paper may be absorbing the sensitizer too quickly. But
perhaps I have been beating my head against a wall and I'm fighting the
substrate. Just placed an order for some Buxton. I'll let you know
how it goes.

Cheers,
Christine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
"Crazy" is a term of art: "Insane" is a term of Law. Remember that, and
you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
      ~ Hunter S. Thompson
On Jan 7, 2004, at 4:40 PM, Tony McLean wrote:

> Hi
>
> The sensitiser formula you are using is text book. Your problem is
> undoubtedly the size!! Try platinotype without the size or another
> paper.
>
> The Argyrotype system may just as well have been designed to test the
> purity of a paper! That is, it's extremely fussy and only work with
> the purest of papers that have not been adulterated with carbonate
> buffer, fillers and the like. See Dr Mike Ware's web pages for further
> details.
>
>
> Cheers ... Tony McLean
>
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tony.mclean
> On 7 Jan 2004, at 21:25, epona wrote:
>
>> This may be applicable to other iron silver processes as well.
>>
>> I have never been able to get the Dmax I want out of this process,
>> tho my last batch was not too bad. This batch, however, is
>> horrendous. I am getting flat prints with a weird silvery sheen over
>> the surface, most noticeably in the darker areas, because, well, they
>> are dark. I made new sensitizer in case it was old, and the extra
>> silver salts were hanging out and depositing on the paper, which is
>> Crane's 90 lb cover stock (aka platinotype). The formula is:
>>
>> Sulphamic acid (spelt 'sulfamic' in the USA) NH2SO3H .....7 g
>> Silver(I) Oxide Ag2O
>> ............................................................7 g
>> Ammonium Iron(III) Citrate (the green form) ....................22 g
>> Tween 20
>> ......................................................................
>> ..........0.2 cc
>> Distilled water to make
>> ......................................................100 cc
>>
>> Still getting the silvery sheen, whether I tone in gold chloride or
>> just fix in sodium thio. Then i made the (duh) connection that the
>> bad prints started to happened coincidentally when I began using
>> crane's sized with Dick Stevens' sizing formula, which is this:
>>
>> gelatin 7g
>> distilled water 500 ml
>> alum 1g
>> alcohol absolute 25 ml
>>
>> do you think it's the sizing causing this weird sheen? i have sized
>> my paper previously with a .2% gelatin solution minus the alum and
>> alcohol. could it be those additives? should i trash this whole
>> idea and just try sandy's kallitype formula? I got a deadline i'm
>> trying to meet for a finished piece for next thursday.
>>
>> thanks in advance,
>> christine
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> ~~~~~~~
>> "Crazy" is a term of art: "Insane" is a term of Law. Remember that,
>> and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
>> ~ Hunter S. Thompson
>>
>
Received on Wed Jan 7 15:53:52 2004