Re: VanDyke problem

Carson Graves (carson@zama.hq.ileaf.com)
Thu, 7 Apr 94 11:39:13 EDT

> Anyway, I am having a problem with my VanDyke Brown prints: after developing,
> fixing, and rinsing, the silver appears to be washing off some. The effect is
> even over the whole print, and does not appear to be over-fixing. The problem
> seems to be occuring after the fixer. I'm printing on Rives BFK white paper
> with a starch sizing (the only one feasible for me), rinsing in 68 degree tap

Have you tried not using a sizing? I've always had good results with
BFK and brown prints (cyanotypes too) not using any sizing. In fact,
I've only found a few papers that didn't work well without sizing so
that it was easier to simply switch papers when I came across one that
gave me problems using these processes.

> water. I think the water's a little on the hard side, is that the problem? I
> haven't tried distilled water, but I think I will. Any suggestions or comments
> are welcome. Thanks,

The biggest problems that I have found with water quality came in gelatin
based processes such as carbon/carbro, photo-gravure resists, etc. In the
extreme, I had to not only mix all the chemistry with distilled, but use
distilled for development, wash, etc. I never found VanDyke (or cyano)
prints to be noticably affected by the quality of the water. Of course
that doesn't mean that this isn't your problem.

Good Luck,
Carson Graves
carson@ileaf.com

>
> -Chad
> HESSOUN@kenyon.edu
>
> P.S. Isn't there a digital/electronic imaging list out there? Anyone know
> anything about it?
>