Hi Adam, are you still out there -- or did you graduate? I've been=20
following your saga in the year's archive, waiting to post until I saw=20
how it all came out. Alas, listproc. refuses to give me Mar. 26 through=20
April 18, no matter how I pretty-please it, but, assuming there were no=20
major breakthroughs in that time, I think I have some useful comments.=20
First, though, you are all amazing! Roses and joy to everyone who=20
contributed to a remarkable document -- human and scientific.=20
As for kallitype - in my moderately informed, but no doubt insufficiently=
=20
humble, opinion, a lot of your trouble, Adam, came from too much faith in=
=20
a certain UNdefinitive book. Aside from the maddening and confusing=20
repetitions and contradictions, it leaves out a lot that's pertinent,=20
barks up a lot of wrong trees, and says much that just isn't true. (My=20
not dwelling on these points further is an act of superhuman restraint,=20
which I don=D5t even attempt in person, since any mention of this book=20
starts me frothing. But, seeing how wonderfully, inspiringly, kind and=20
civil this list is, I don't want to be a bad person on my first post.)
The BEST single kallitype developer I found was Bostick and Sullivan's=20
Ammonium Citrate liquid developer, which, last time I bought it, cost=20
about $8 a litre plus shipping. And it comes ready mixed. Don't know if=20
it gives the "chocolate" color Adam is looking for (is that bakers=20
chocolate, milk chocolate, or sweet German chocolate, Adam?), but it is a=
=20
very pleasant, often rosy, brown, which, as always, varies with the paper=
=20
and other processing details. It is, however, just about glitch-proof,=20
gives smooth, fine grain, tends not to need further clearing on hard=20
papers, and, just like the old (platinum) manuals promise, lasts forever.=
=20
That is, when it gets dark, let it settle, decant the clear part, and=20
dispose (properly) of the sludge. It won't go bad, just add more when=20
volume is low.=20
As for those Rochelle salts developers, I, too, found it nearly=20
impossible to get all the chemicals into solution -- but we're willing to=
=20
suffer for our art, right? Trouble was that, even after all the weighing=20
and stirring, I never got the promised variations of color. Also, though=20
I didn't test EACH variation, the ones I did try didn't last well. If you=
=20
re-use them (sometimes, as I recall, just the 2nd time, and that's a fair=
=20
amount of money and stirring for one printing session), they ruin the=20
print (grainy and faded) and you're right back at the mixing table.=20
HOWEVER, ammonium citrate developer's bright brown was too bright on my=20
paper (an old Strathmore Drawing). Sodium acetate, easy to mix and reusable=
,=20
was excellent. That's 75 g sodium acetate & 3 g tartaric acid per litre.=20
I'd mix a gallon at double strength, then add an equal amount of water=20
and the tartaric acid (3 grams is about 1/2 tsp) at time of use.=20
For contrast controls, one drop of 7% potassium dichromate per 50 drops=20
emulsion was about the limit before highlights got grainy, but it brought=
=20
the CR down to 8 steps (from 12 or so) on the 21-step. OR, add 1/2 cc (10=
=20
drops) 7% potassium dichromate per litre to the developer. Either way, no=
=20
further clearing was necessary. (Of course both formulas lighten the=20
image; expose accordingly.)=20
For ferric oxalate, I found Bostick & Sullivan's dry powder the best=20
"solution," cheaper than buying and shipping liquid and seems (so far) to=
=20
keep indefinitely; I made it up over time in 4 batches. For 25% solution,=
=20
stir 12 1/2 grams into 40 cc distilled water in a beaker, stirring at=20
intervals for ca. 1/2 hour, then pour into brown dropper bottle, using a=20
final 10 cc of distilled to slosh out the residue in the beaker. (If all=20
won't fit, store part in tightly sealed bottle in fridge.) Agitate the=20
bottle occasionally over the next 12 hours or so. The powder WILL go into=
=20
solution -- the cloudy greenish liquid WILL become clear and brownish --=20
though it looks like it won't. You can heat the liquid to speed things up=
=20
(microwave OK), but don't boil.=20
Note that the classic potassium ferricyanide test for freshness of FO=20
doesn't work with the B&S powder, which I learned after throwing out a=20
bunch. Marilyn Bostick said the only risk with old FO is it won't clear,=20
but what IS the risk of non-clearing? They say iron residue in paper=20
degrades the silver, but they say lots of things. Depending on the=20
negative and the paper, the "stain" can give a rather charming "antique"=20
look. Is it risky? Also, is iron residue always visible right off (unlike=
=20
fixer residue)? Anybody?=20
For clearing bath when needed, either EDTA or 10% citric acid was OK,=20
others degraded the image.
For fixer, 55 grams of sodium thiosulfate (2 heaping tablespoons) per=20
litre of water with 10 cc non-sudsy household ammonia lightened the print=
=20
least. But fix for how long? I fix for no more than 2 agitating minutes=20
and in 8 years have seen no fading. (But the 9th year?) In my heart I=20
think all VDB and kallitype formulas tell you to overfix (they say 5 to=20
10 minutes), with a real loss of richness, but my attempts to test for=20
residual silver have been ignominious. The only formula I found was: 1=20
part Kodak Rapid Selenium to 9 parts water. Squeegee print. Put drop on=20
highlight area; blot after 2-3 minutes. If color is other than creamy (it=
=20
says), unfixed silver remains. So my tests all turned bright selenium-red=
=20
-- even in borders with no emulsion. Any suggestions, formulae, out=20
there?=20
The Kodak H-2 formula test for residual hypo, OTH, was very clear and=20
distinct and quite at odds with the "info" in ---- oops, said I wouldn't!
To lighten a too-dark print, bathe it in (or swab with) HCL in from 1/2%=20
to 2% solution. Muriatic acid (construction grade HCL) is $6 a gallon at=20
the hardware store. (It's going to be 99% tap water anyway.)
Other papers that looked good with Kallitype were Saunders #72, softer,=20
but a beautiful purply brown with the B&S. developer; Stonehenge was also=
=20
a great color; Fabriano Artistico was black and beautiful with the sodium=
=20
acetate developer; the old Strathmore Artists 500 series was excellent,=20
but I don't know about the new.
Finally, let me say: I have no interest in Bostick & Sullivan! In fact I=20
once peeved Richard mightily by criticising his spelling and punctuation.=
=20
(Hi Richard! Seems you got a spell checker. Have been enjoying your --=20
too rare -- posts; will comment shortly.)
Cheers, Judy Seigel, NYC