Re: powdered albumen

Thanks Bob, Judy, Kees,
     I've got my stack of 9 PF's on my kitchen table ready to comb thru as
soon as I get through the 153 articles out of the BJP..I keep telling myself
I'll be done in a week, and then another week goes by. At least I gum print
at the same time so research has its benefits :)
     Kees, yes, dichromate hardens albumen, as it is a colloid.
     I unfortunately have a very sensitive nose and it smells a little
earthy for me. Hence the possibility of powdered albumen, which I thought
might smell less. Maybe I can add Chanel No. 5 to it...
     What I needed to know tho was exactly what you told me: that it looks
the same as regular albumen. That's great! Off to the grocery store.
chris
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kees Brandenburg" <ctb@zeelandnet.nl>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 5:14 AM
Subject: Re: powdered albumen

hi chris,

I tried albumen powder recently for albumen
printing and had my (albumen) workshop students
(hi, bert) test it alongside with 'normal'
albumen paper.

This albumen powder was 'spraydried', whatever that may be, and pasteurized.
I got a free sample from the Dutch egg product firm NIVE
<http://www.nive.nl>.
They were so kind to give me 250 gr of their
#1352 'high gel' chicken egg white powder. It is
normally sold in a 12 kilo bag, which contains
the dried whites of 3000 eggs. It is marketed as
a product to stiffen sausages.....

I diluted it as advised (1+7, looked like normal
albumen), mixed in salt and whipped it to a froth
as I do with fresh albumen.

After letting it rest for 24 hours I had a liquid
albumen that looked very different from the
normal yellow albumen from fresh whites. It
looked more like milk than albumen. After testing
it on paper (float and brush coating) it did
behave and print normal.

Actually we could not tell the difference between
prints with the powdered albumen and prints with
the fresh albumen. Only the powdered paper
smelled a bit more like egg.

But: there is another big difference. After
keeping this albumen in the fridge for some time
it continued to 'gel' (remember it was 'high
gel') and now it looks like creamy acrylic paint
or caseïne. It still smell's more or less the
same (eggy). My fresh egg albumen keeps for weeks
and does not change like that.

Are you planning to mix albumen, pigment and
dichromate? My creamy substance can maybe hold
pigment nicely. Maybe even more as I change the
dilution. But does dichromate harden albumen?
Let's test it!

kees

>Those of you doing the albumen process, do powdered egg whites work equally
>well, or at all?
>Chris
>PS aren't you SHOCKED this is not about gum? Well, actually....it is, but
I
>won't discuss it just yet.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kees Brandenburg
http://polychrome.nl
Workshops alt. photo | Middelburg | Netherlands