I picked carbon;-)
>> Carbon transfer can provide very rich blacks, perfectly clean highlights,
>> and rasor sharp images (on smooth coated papers), *with one coat* only, if
>
>That does seduce. What about the negatives? Can it take a wide range of
>contrasts, or does it need a particular type?
I forgot to mention this in _Modern Carbon Printing_? Preferably healthy
negs, much like for Pt. A good neg for gum won't print well.
>> This is why I find carbon transfer superior to anything else, generally
>
>Single as well as double transfer?
For monochrome, all my work has been single transfer. A normal neg would be
reversed left to right. With a point source light and vacuum frame you can
print the neg upside down and nobody will know if the paper has any texture
at all.
For tricolor work, single transfer for all testing (much quicker) and final
prints with double transfer. I think there were 47 steps all together. The
process was not commercially feasible and I have abandoned it all together.
>> So, you'll ask: How come we see so few carbon prints out there? How come we
>> see so many platinum and gum prints out there?>
>> Which brings us to the BAD NEWS:>
>> Carbon is 10 times more difficult than Pt or gum.
>
>Luis, I would not classify platinum and gum in the same difficulty range.
In relation to carbon I would.
>Platinum is the EASIEST non-silver process. Forgive me for repeating
>myself, but the only *difficulty* is paying for the metal. You may say
>making a FINE platinum is tricky, but that's true for any medium -- except
>polaroid transfer (where the worse it is the "better" it is).
Indeed, with Pt and gum, people can learn to make "a print" over a weekend.
You don't in carbon if you have to make the materials. You have a pretty
good idea how difficult a process is when the Troubleshooting guide at the
end of the book is larger than the rest of the book:-)
Great prints take a considerable amount of expertise in all cases. Most
prints are amazingly banal.
>> There has got to be some place in NYC where you can see excellent carbons
>> up close. With the next version of my carbon book I may be offering an
>> optional small print as I did with the Pt book, but this is not for
>> tomorrow and it would only be one small print. You have to see several,
>> from different sources and periods.
>
>But here's something that has troubled me -- with all media. The glass
>changes the print so much. Sometimes of course for the better, but more
>often with delicacy lost. So I might see naked prints without glass by
>special arrangement, but in effect they exist to a viewing public, at home
>or in the museum, behind glass. (And prints not behind glass in upscale
>galleries don't look right, because we know that's really fake.)
>Anyway, after all that hairpulling and ultimate triumph, does the difference
>survive covering with glass?
To really appreciate a print, it has to be "naked", period. This is the
reason why I don't have a single photograph on the walls of my house. And I
don't walk around naked either;-)
you can *look* at an *image" behind glass, from a fair distance, casually,
as we all do when visiting galleries and museums. To really *appreciate* a
*print* requires more light than most museums would (for good reasons)
allow, and the glass has to be removed. This is when you need an
appointment to see the prints "naked". There is nothing wrong with buying
the prints either.
Speaking of glass, some years ago there was a glarefree glass (supercoated
like a photographic lens) marketed under the name of Denglass (?) Wonder if
that is still available?
..
>> > Possibly next summer, I may start my long rumored Summer School and
>> Research Center, which will offer workshops on carbon printing (and perhaps
>> other processes), and which will make a good part of my collection (300+
>
>Well, no doubt in Canada you can do carbon printing all year-round, even
>in August. So let us know!
The North East coast where I live, between Maine and Nova Scotia (and the
Atlantic) is hot and humid in most of July and August. I used to fight the
elements with a powerful air conditioning unit. Now I prefer doing other
things during those months. For carbon, you need one small room for certain
operations. I am not the only one who has made use of a refrigerator with
the door ajar, and ice cubes in the cold water transfer bath... The rest of
the operations, e.g., sizing paper, etc. can be done under any conditions.
Luis