Re: Linda Connor's process

From: Susan Huber ^lt;shuber@ssisland.com>
Date: 07/15/04-06:23:27 AM Z
Message-id: <001401c46a66$88d056a0$8591c8cf@ownereb7xeo44n>

Thanks Jean!
I use the same process and have used it for many years-
it is magic but pretty iffy too- good luck!
Susan
www.susanhuber.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "jean.daubas" <jean.daubas@wanadoo.fr>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 3:15 AM
Subject: Re: Linda Connor's process

> Hi all,
>
> About the gold-toning procedure used by Linda Connors for her POP prints,
> I've copied a small excerpt from the chapter about Linda found in the very
> interesting book "Darkroom" edited by Eleanor Davis (c) 1977 and
published
> by Lustrum Press.
> Besides the toner formula, Linda brings us some simple comments about her
> procedure
>
> [...
> During exposure, the paper (which you can handle safely in shade or
room
> light) turns from white to pink, shades of maroon, a reddish brown, and
> finally, if it's had lots of sun, an olive green. I normally print until
the
> shadow areas of the picture are olive green. The rest of the image is
> usually dark maroon with a little pink in the highlights. After exposure,
I
> put the prints in a box for safekeeping until I can get around to toning
> them. As long as they stay pretty much out of the light, they will be fine
> almost indefinitely. It's a lovely process - no more smelly darkroom. In
> fact, once the film is developed, everything else is done in the light.
>
> I tone in the bathroom because the water runs there, but any place with
> water and room for some trays will do. Room light is fine and almost
> necessary since the process is so long and boring, you might as weIl enjoy
a
> good book. I usually tone two prints at a time in separate trays. If I do
> more than one print in a tray , I tend to get uneven toning.
> First, prepare a tray of plain hypo (sodium thiosulfite). I usually
add
> about a cup of hypo crystals to a quart of hot water; the water cools as
the
> crystals dissolve, leaving you with a solution at about the correct
> temperature. I don't bother using a thermometer. I just make sure that
> nothing is too hot. You need to use plain hypo rather than regular fixer,
> because the latter is too strong and bleaches the image.
>
> The toner is gold chloride, and it is expensive. The price went up
about
> 300 percent in 1974. I just thought l'd warn you. Anyway, you take a
fifteen
> grain vial of gold chloride and with the little file the chemist will give
> you, you carefully file it open. Then, put the gold chloride, vial and aIl
> (so as not to waste any crystals that might be sticking to the glass),
into
> a beaker of 500 cc of water (use bottled water if yours is rusty). The
> crystals will dissolve easily. Now filter it into a bottle marked
"A-gold."
> You'll also need a second chemical, ammonium thiocyanate; mix up 10 grams
> with 500 cc of ( water. I don't have a scale, but l've found that if you
> fill al plastic Kodak 35mm film cassette can with the chemical, ! you come
> out about right. Put this in a second bottle labeled "B-A.T." These two
> bottles contain your stock solutions. Now mix up 50 cc of A, 50 cc of B,
and
> add 500 cc of water. Pour this into one or two trays and you are ready to
> go.
>
> First the prints must be washed in cold water for a few minutes until
> the milky stuff stops coming off the print. (I think this is excess
> silver.) Pre-wash for three to five minutes. I Drain and place the print
in
> the toning solution (yes, you tone I first, then fix), agitating the whole
> time. 1 find that rocking the tray is the best way to do this, since tongs
> or fingers often crease or scratch the print surface. The emulsion of this
> paper is very soft when wet, and it comes only in single weight, so you
must
> be particularly careful when handling it. Even fingerprints will affect
the
> toning. (It is extremely prissy paper.) Once in the toner, the print will
> quickly change from maroon to an orange and the image will get much
lighter.
> As the toning progresses, the orange will start turning gray-brown, the
> color of the toned print. You
> can see it happen. If the gold is fresh, it takes five to ten minutes a
> print, but as the solution gets used up, it takes considerably longer. As
> the gold leaves the solution, the tone of the prints will shift. They will
> become warmer and more orange. The first few prints in a new solution of
> gold are usually a purple-gray, the next few are browner, and the last
> couple quite orange.
>
> Now I put the prints into hypo for about six minutes, where they will
> again get a little lighter. Next I put them in a water bath and hold them
> there until I have a big enough batch to hypo clear and wash. I use a
washer
> that holds the prints separately, but a tray siphon would also work. (Just
> be careful the prints don't get creased.) When they are through washing
in
> thirty to forty minutes, I drain them and place them in pairs, back to
back.
> Then I hang them by the corners with plastic clothespins. They air dry in
a
> few hours, and will always curl, but, if pressed with a couple of heavy
> books, they flatten out in a couple of days. (Do not dry these prints in a
> heat dryer - the image will transfer to the apron.) Finally, I dry mount
the
> prints on thin boards slightly larger than the prints, because I find they
> are just too thin without some backing. I then spot them and if I like the
> image enough, I overmatte it. The casualty rate on these prints from
> start to finish is pretty high. Getting the exposure right, the toning
even,
> the co!or you like, no creases, these are some of the problems you face.
> Weil, you lose a lot of prints. It is also close to impossible to get two
> prints to come out looking the same. I just don't worry about it. Each
print
> is a little bit different and if I like it, fantastic. Oh, remember that
> green? WeIl, sometimes when the green is very intense on the print and the
> toner is partially depleted, the toner will plate up on those areas,
giving
> it a kind of uneven surface, almost a solarized look. This can be really
> beautiful, but it is difficult to control or describe.
>
> Why do I go to aIl this trouble and expense to gold tone on Print-out
> Paper when I could contact print on another kind of paper? It would be
> easier to use another paper, but the prints would look very different.
The
> P.O.P. renders the image with a delicacy that is hard to match (Figure 5).
> Maybe l'm a little tired of plain old black and white prints, but I really
> like the brown tones the gold produces. These prints have a warm receptive
> quality that l've never found in regular silver bromide prints. Each print
> is unique in tone and intensity. I would like the print to be a new
object,
> not just a neutral reflection, reference, or record of reality. I want
> people to look at the print and to be satisfied with it. ...]
>
> Cheers from France,
> Jean
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jack Fulton
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 6:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Linda Connor's process
>
>
>
> Hello Jack,
> Thank you for the information- I have tried many formulas to tone the POP-
> could you clarify as to the amount of ammonium thiocyanate Linda uses. I
> assume she uses a gram of gold chloride for part two of the solution to
> gold tone.
> Thanks, Susan.
>
> Susan:
> Linda is in Cappadocia, Turkey, photographing right now and I'll be happy
to
> ask her upon returning in a bit if you wish. As far as I know, the formula
> is the standard T-53 of Kodak for that is what I gave her a few years
back.
> She may have, indeed, altered it since then.
> However, it is:
>
> SolutionA
> Ammonium Thiocyante 10 grams
> Water to make 500 mls
>
> Solution B
> Gold Chloride 1 gram
> Water to make 500 mls
>
> When using you can obtain various tones. Dilution is the key such as one
> will note that an ordinary silver gelatin developer will give warmer tones
> when diluted.
>
> For the colder, more popular (Linda's) look of purple-black
> Sol A
> Sol B 500 mls each and water to make 500 mls
>
> For brown(er) toning
> Use 12 mls of each part and water to make 500 mls
>
> For red(dish) toning
> 6 mls of each solution and water to make 500 mls
>
> The full process is to first use a strong (read dark) negative and expose
> fully in the sun (or arc light). Examine while exposing and make sure the
> image is darker than you'd like as fixing and toning reduce the density.
> Fix with basic fixer made of sodium thiosulfate . . not rapid fix.
> Wash.
> Tone
> Re-fix
> Wash
>
Received on Thu Jul 15 06:23:47 2004

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