RE: Fixing Lumin Prints

George,

It's another of those things I did donkeys' years ago and don't remember in
too much detail now. But what I meant was to expose paper to a negative
under the enlarger in the darkroom, develop the print part of the way
(possibly using a somewhat weaker dev; I don't emember now), then wash it
and transfer to an *extremely* weak dev before blasting with sunlight. Not
all - and maybe not many - of the papers of 15 or so years ago worked well,
but with a few that did the results were magnificent... until fixed!

Doing it as a toning process (by bleaching a fixed & washed print) was
something that occurred to me later, but gave different results. Again, not
many papers worked well; Ilford Multigrade III RC was one that did, funnily
enough. The colours are not nearly so vivid, but I think I remember that
they're more resistant to change in the fix.

Pot. iodide is one of the fixing agents that Fox Talbot tried and liked,
though it doesn't do the same thing as hypo. Rather, it converts the other
(more soluble) silver halides to silver iodide, which is virtually
insensitive to light in the absence of halogen acceptors. Iodide doesn't
work like a toner (since silver iodide is whitish), but the reason that
Talbot liked it is that it preserved the colours of his print-outs. But on
the other hand, maybe more of his work would have survived if he hadn't
liked it! The image may not be absolutely stable, but it should have a
reasonable life. Instead of darkening, iodide fixed prints are at risk of
fading, especially if the iodide solution was too strong.

Mike Ware talks about iodide fixation in his "Mechanisms of Image
Deterioration", but I can't find any formulae for an iodide fixer. I'd
suggest starting at 0.5% and going up from there in small increments if you
need to. One of Dallas Simpson's party tricks was to bleach a print in 4%
pot. iodide and dry it without washing. It would print itself out in
daylight, but fade away again in the dark at night.

Hope that's some help. Can't answer any more for a while - UK bedtime in a
minute & I'm away for a few days in the morning.

Liam

-----Original Message-----
From: George L Smyth [mailto:glsmyth@yahoo.com]
Sent: 13 September 2005 01:56
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: RE: Fixing Lumin Prints

Liam -

I just wanted to get a better understanding as to what you were saying. Do
you
mean that you would fog the paper, develop with a weak developer without
fixing, then continue from there? I can see where that would help with the
exposure (or at least make it different), but don't you still have the same
problem when it comes time to fix? If you are right that fixing changes the
way the light is reflected (I think you are probably right in this), then I
would think that you still encounter the same situation.

Also, can you elaborate on the idea of using an iodide bath? Would it do
anything similar to toning?

Cheers -

george

--- Liam Lawless <liam.lawless@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> RE: Fixing Lumin PrintsI think the loss of colour in the fix is
unavoidable
> because fixing removes silver halides and thus alters the configuration of
> the silver grains (compacting them) so they don't reflect light in the
same
> way. Whether the fix is strong or weak, if it does what it needs to do,
> it'll remove the silver halides.
>
> Missed the start of this thread and therefore not sure if I'm talking
about
> the same thing, but something I used to do was to develop a print somewhat
> lightly, rinse and transfer to a very weak dev - something like D-163 at
> 1:500 or 1:1000 if memory serves - and then take into bright sunshine for
> development to continue and colours to appear. Yellows, greens and browns
> on cold papers, blues, pinks and purples on warn, but they all turned
> grey-brown in the fix. Maybe an iodide bath would stabilise the halides
> without removing them?
>
> Papers ain't what they used to be, but I used to get interesting tones by
> bleaching a silver print in ferricyanide-chloride or similar, then
> redeveloping under a bright light in (e.g.) D-163 at 1:200. If it's
> redeveloped to completion, it shouldn't need fixing.
>
>
>
> Liam
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Baird, Darryl [mailto:dbaird@umflint.edu]
> Sent: 12 September 2005 15:30
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: RE: Fixing Lumin Prints
>
>
> I think this is a very good question. I also tried a 10% solution of
hypo
> and the colors largely faded (those were on the bottom row of my
examples).
>
> I'm about to try a 2% solution, similar to the argyrotype process for
two
> miutes and see what happens...this will be on a dark-stored (one week)
> image.
>
> ...to be continued
>
> Darryl Baird
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: George L Smyth [mailto:glsmyth@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Sun 9/11/2005 9:46 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: Fixing Lumin Prints
>
> I have tried flowers and am not getting great colors. Unfortunately,
when
> I
> fix the paper the majority of them go away. I tried fixing with 10%
> sodium
> thiosulfate but that is way too strong. My question is "how little can
I
> fix
> with the hopes that the paper will be properly fixed?" How far can I
> dilute
> the fix and still have it effective, or am I just out of luck?
>
> Cheers -
>
> george
>
> Handmade Photographic Images - http://www.GLSmyth.com
> DRiP Investing - http://DRiPInvesting.org
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Mon Sep 12 21:08:02 2005