The Carbon Print

[sanking]

John Lockhart and I are nearing completion of a new book on carbon printing, called The Carbon Print.

John and I collaborated in writing and editing this comprehensive study of the carbon printing process, that includes detailed working instructions for single and double transfer carbon printing, a chapter on color carbon that provides a modern work flow that takes advantage of pin registration system of assembling the color reliefs, and a full chapter on negative production, including detailed procedures for making digital negatives with photo printers, with particular attention to creation of modifiable QTR profiles. Overall the book has over 200 pages of text and images, including the work of more than two-dozen carbon printers from around the world.

The Carbon Print will initially be available as an e-book or .pdf document, for purchase through John's website, www.johnlockhart.net. On the site there is a page for the book http://www.johnlockhart.net/carbonbook. On that page folks can read the details, download a preview, and sign up to be notified when it is ready for purchase.

Sandy

[Andrew O'Neill]

Can't wait to see it, Sandy and John!

[karl french]

Looking forward to it.

[bob carnie]

Sounds fantastic
I will buy a copy and make you sign it my next visit.

[plaubel]

Submission completed!

[jk0592]

I am very interested as well. Will certainly buy a copy.

[RSalles]

I am very interested as well. Will certainly buy a copy.

+1,

[Peter De Smidt]

This is great news!

[terra_monk]

pure awesome! I only imagine how good this will be ... thank you.

[Jeffrey Arthur]

I have the original. Looking forward to the sequel!

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Sandy, Nice to hear you are almost done. It looked really well done when John sent me the link. Congratulations.

[Kirk Gittings]

Good for you. Sounds like a state of the art summary about where this amazing process is at.

[Ken Lee]

The preview contains a collection of very handsome photographs. Wow !

[Michael Kadillak]

Can't wait to immerse myself in these materials. Your subtle encouragement in the carbon print process years ago will finally take form. Thanks for taking the time to share your collective knowledge base and ensuring future photographers can become practiced in this art long into the future.

[Vaughn]

A very fine project!

[John Jarosz]

Wonderful to see is the continuation of rescuing the carbon transfer process from the scrap heap of history. The preview looks for the book to be a wonderful addition to the contemporary accounts of this excellent historical process. Maybe in the future it will become the standard B&W fine art process after the demise of silver paper. Now all we need is a home grown replacement for in-camera negatives.

Congratulations to Sandy & John, I look forward to seeing the final product.

[Paul Cunningham]

I'm looking forward to reading about pin registration.

[Monty McCutchen]

Sandy

Congratulations. Ahh to be as productive and talented as you!!

[Merg Ross]

The preview contains a collection of very handsome photographs. Wow !

For sure. Congratulations to all!

[sanking]

Thanks for the interest in carbon transfer, and the nice comments. If you signed up with John you should hear something from him within a few weeks as to when the book will be available for purchase.

The book would have been finished several months ago but in late summer I decided to revisit three-color carbon. I made a number of three-color prints back in the 1980s with the traditional methods, including color separations on film and visual registration. In fact, virtually everything I know about the development of B&W film was learned in that period in order to color balance the separation negative sets. In order to balance a gray scale the R, G and B separations must have the same density range and contrast, and it takes a lot of experience with film and development to nail that. The other thing that was very difficult with traditional work was having to register the images on paper. Read what Richard Miller had to say about registration. Miller is the photographer who made the color carbro print of Edward Weston that you can see in the preview. He was one of the few real masters of the process, back in the day. http://www.richardcmiller.com/carbro/

Registration: That was a job. If you wanted to be able to count the hairs on someone’s arm, you had to be able to register. If the three-color camera was in registration, if the film did not buckle, the negatives still did not just automatically drop in together. You always ended up bending and tweaking the support paper; folding, bending, punching holes in the plastic sheet, top and bottom; and then drilling holes in the sides in order to stretch wires to fix the position while they dried. Originally you had to work with celluloid, which you had to wax, but later we used Mylar. In any case, you couldn’t dry the image too fast on the Mylar/temporary support. Otherwise it would dry unevenly and wouldn’t pull off. If it stuck anywhere, the print was ruined.

I always planned to revisit three-color carbon, and came to the conclusion that it was now or never. Well, it is still quite a challenge. Today we have the luxury of digital control with our color separations, and pin registration in the exposure and assembly of the color reliefs on stable supports. Even so, color carbon is still a daunting process. As someone once wrote, there are 36 steps in color carbon, and if you make a mistake with any one of them the print is ruined.

Sandy

[Pere Casals]

This is good news !!!

It was just yesterday that I saw a picture of Toshihiro Oshima photographer and I realized how nice it could be if carbon printed:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tommyoshima/31274159625/sizes/c/

So I find this book will be of great interest to me, and for sure it will lead me to carbon printing.

Congratulations !

[Don12x20x]

Its an excellent work. I have been fortunate to review a copy.
If you are a current Carbon Printer, you will learn many ways to improve your process.
If you are a newbie, this is the best of the carbon books that I have read (old or current texts).
Sandy and John have done an outstanding job putting this together.
You must get this when it becomes available.

Don Nelson

[andreios]

I am very much looking forward to buying this book. I've been interested in learning carbon transfer for a few years now, recently I've finally managed to find time to start learning the process in earnest. No prints to show yet, but I think I am finally capable to pour a decent looking tissue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ghostcount]

Got mine. Good read so far!

[Peter De Smidt]

I've only had a short time to peruse it, but it looks terrific!

[Michael Clark]

Sandy, right now it is a e-Book (down load) , will there be an actual paper book published?

[sanking]

Sandy, right now it is a e-Book (down load) , will there be an actual paper book published?

Eventually we plan to offer a print publication of the book but there are several avenues to consider and we have not yet determined the best way to proceed.

If you want a paper book now the book is set up to print with the .pdf file and it would be easy to print it, or have it printed, and assemble for ready reference.

Sandy

[Jim Michael]

Great job and very nice images.

[Michael Clark]

Thank you Sandy.

[sanking]

In case you missed the last few exchanges I want to mention that the book on carbon transfer John Lockhart and I have been working on is now complete and The Carbon Print is available for purchase and download. Our new book features:

Advice and tips for beginning printers
Complete procedures for single and double transfer
Guide to supplies and materials manufacture
Digital negative guide including Sandy's custom all gray inkset
Approximately 200 pages and 100 images of prints and procedures
Detailed troubleshooting guide and supplier reference
Guide to color carbon
Downloadable in .pdf and ePub formats
Priced at 24.95 USD

For more information, a preview, and/or to purchase, visit:
http://www.johnlockhart.net/carbonbook

Thank you in advance for you feedback and/or questions about the book.

Sandy

[Randy Moe]

Bought #81 and prefer it as eBook.

Thanks Sandy

Your website is very nice. A good example for us all.

[MMELVIS]

Purchased #172