Re: Masking

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Baily" <info@creativefauna.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 12:54 PM
Subject: Masking

>
> Hello all,
>
> I have a problem that some of you may know the answer to
> or recognize. When I mask the negative by placing a
> rubylith window on top of the negative between it and the
> glass of the contact frame I get a fine line of exposed
> emulsion (develops out to be a fine line on all four sides
> of the image) where the edge of the negative is. But, the
> mask window is smaller than the image on the negative and
> covers the edge of the negative. When I place the mask
> between the neg. and paper the problem goes away, but the
> contact is poor at the edges of the images. Do you think
> light could be travel horizontally through the negative
> and causing an exposure at it's very edges ( a bit like
> fiber optics)?
>
> I TAed for a professional platinum printer ( Arkady
> Lavov) and he told me this would happen and that I should
> just place the mask between the negative and paper, but he
> never told me why. Does anybody else recognize this
> problem or am I just mad?
>
> It really bugs the hell out of me. Any help would be much
> appreciated.
>
> Matt
>
   If this is light-piping as has been suggested, and you
can't get good results with the mask under the negative, you
might try painting the edge of the negative with black ink.
Try this on a scrap to see if it works.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com