Alt-Process Prints from Digital Negatives or Positives

[bob carnie]

You know what , there has been an issue with water dropping, It is probably the f.. kn.. answer We are actually having the back end of the building re concrete this weekend and sure
as shit I had some leaks in the area.. I will bet money its water drops..Hitting the print in the dry room .

Keep at it long enough and the problem does have potential of solving itself.

Yeah Bob, maybe it's just a matter of water drops somehow ending up on the drying coating from errant spray while washing hands or leaky roof look on the bright side, at least you're getting some good prints and not all have the spots!

[Erik Larsen]

You know what , there has been an issue with water dropping, It is probably the f.. kn.. answer We are actually having the back end of the building re concrete this weekend and sure
as shit I had some leaks in the area.. I will bet money its water drops..Hitting the print in the dry room .

Keep at it long enough and the problem does have potential of solving itself.

The simplest answer is usually the right one, we're f'ng geniuses

[Michael Mutmansky]

Bob,

Do you put any alcohol in the mix before you coat?

I always put in a dropper shoot of ethyl alcohol (Everclear) per 8x10 coating amount (about 10ml of gum, 10ml of AmDi). It reduces the surface tension and makes for a smoother, more even coat with fewer bubbles.

However, you have to be absolutely sure that the solution is thoroughly mixed before it goes on the paper because the gum will act a little irregularly if it is not fully integrated.

Probably not a source of these problems, but it is a good thing to be aware of, especially if you have trouble with bubbles in the coat. I use a foam roller to put down the coating, and it can produce bubbles that do not pop sometimes without the alcohol.

I was actually thinking about trying to mix my AmDi in alcohol rather than water to see what tie effect of that would be. It'll be pretty fluid, and I would probably have to step up the sizing to keep the solution from running right through the size into the depths of the paper. I tend to do experiments like this. Most of the time they go nowhere,but sometimes, they prove quite beneficial.

I only got a single layer of gum on my test prints this weekend. All three look similar at this point. No staining, good clearing. However, the gelatin sized portion has the best looking surface of the three. The other two have a bit of a differential sheen to them that I don't really like too much. 1:4 isn't too bad, but 1:2 is a bit strong. We'll see how it all performs after 2-3 more coats.


---Michael

[bob carnie]

Erik and others

some things I think I learned.

Pre shrinking arches platen with hot water bad idea- specifically if I am aluminum mounting… It seems to take out in a not random way the internal sizing and leaves real blotchy areas of no return
I am finding that I am now not so a believer in some of the traditional wisdom of Yellow first , Magenta and then Cyan.

this last round of prints I have placed down the dominant colour and btw negative CYAN and then Yellow and then Magenta with very nice results.

I also screwed up and used the wrong neg for my base Pt Pd lay down and it was very high contrast- for the hell of it I processed right through the order and I think I have found out a little trick…

for the Palladium negative I think I am going to boost the contrast beyond the point of pretty to record shadows and mid tones and just some of the highlights … I will then let the three gum layers fill in some of the blanks… Think
Lith Prints and flashing in the highlights to create a tone agains the monster blacks of a good lith.


Also for the wet work I bought some extra large dish washing gloves - perfect to get in fast and easy and off fast and easy - these will save me hundreds of dollars a year in gloves.

Also interesting - I had two prints pop off the mounts after the Palladium coating and into the first gum… rather than throw out I kept on working- looks like registration is holding after this potential error, now need to figure out
how to pop off the print at will.

Also - my thoughts on PVA sizing after the palladium coat are not clear as yet, I need to work a day of testing to see how this is going to work out for me , right now I am just trying to finish Monica Glitz show for Contact, I have
till the 28th to finish, still lots of work to do, but not in panic mode yet as I am getting good results along side the fuck ups or as I would like to call them OE - operator error.

I will post the complete show of tri gums when done in May. after that I am on to 16 x20 Alt show of Digital Silver negative for contact to make Lith- Silver - Pt Pd and Gum try colours- this is a Celebrity show of actors and musicians
done by some very well known NA photographers… not sure when I can post as I will need permission and making digital copies of 16 x20 will be a bit big for my scanner.



Bob

[Michael Mutmansky]

Bob,

Have you tried Sintra for mounting? It may work well, and it should float.... It could be a good way to get a stable paper and be able to put the print in face side down.

I have some here and although I don't drymount prints anymore (I corner mount and hinge mount), I may be able to mount a piece of paper to the board for some testing. I'll have to see if I have any of that fusion mount tissue.

I bought a few sheets to fabricate my fume hoods with. Worked perfectly for that.

---Michael

[bob carnie]

Hi Michael

sorry sent my last post before seeing this.

1- No but I do have Ethyl Alcohol Denatured DA 2a- which I can test when I start the PVA testing
2. My coats seem to go down well, I am getting those circles with a bit of donut hole in middle again on one print.. I am wondering what is causing this concurring problem.
3. I will be testing two new papers btw after I finish this main job. Hanamuhle pt pd new paper and COT 320 which we have already made a good profile and it is definitely smoother than Arches.
4 . I too like a foam brush - I am going to switch to a roller like you - the brushes are good for pt pd but seem to cause some small issues with gum with me.
5. I am also like you willing to take chances… I am going to switch to Potassium Dichromate next as per Stephen Liviks info.
6.Very interested in your sizing… I use the PVA - I would be interested in your method once you have nailed it.

best regards

Bob
QUOTE=Michael Mutmansky;1324046]Bob,

Do you put any alcohol in the mix before you coat?

I always put in a dropper shoot of ethyl alcohol (Everclear) per 8x10 coating amount (about 10ml of gum, 10ml of AmDi). It reduces the surface tension and makes for a smoother, more even coat with fewer bubbles.

However, you have to be absolutely sure that the solution is thoroughly mixed before it goes on the paper because the gum will act a little irregularly if it is not fully integrated.

Probably not a source of these problems, but it is a good thing to be aware of, especially if you have trouble with bubbles in the coat. I use a foam roller to put down the coating, and it can produce bubbles that do not pop sometimes without the alcohol.

I was actually thinking about trying to mix my AmDi in alcohol rather than water to see what tie effect of that would be. It'll be pretty fluid, and I would probably have to step up the sizing to keep the solution from running right through the size into the depths of the paper. I tend to do experiments like this. Most of the time they go nowhere,but sometimes, they prove quite beneficial.

I only got a single layer of gum on my test prints this weekend. All three look similar at this point. No staining, good clearing. However, the gelatin sized portion has the best looking surface of the three. The other two have a bit of a differential sheen to them that I don't really like too much. 1:4 isn't too bad, but 1:2 is a bit strong. We'll see how it all performs after 2-3 more coats.


---Michael[/QUOTE]

[bob carnie]

thin sintra should work or styrene of that matter but it has to be thick… we tried a thicker lexan off a roll and it was a total disaster - curled like a mfker. So I went to a aluminum mt.
I am going to make a small lift to place the aluminum face down just have to leave space - a couple of metal bars in the water tray would work and just let the aluminum sit face down on them.


I am getting decent results with my cold adhesive to 20 gage aluminum… would be very interested in the hot mount tissues some say work well. I had a friend mount some for me and we found
he was using a cheaper adhesive which did not hold very well so even picking the right adhesive is important.

let me know how the fusion works through a few stages of wet… You can purchase aluminum through Metal Warehouses, I am sure there has to be someone near your location.



QUOTE=Michael Mutmansky;1324052]Bob,

Have you tried Sintra for mounting? It may work well, and it should float.... It could be a good way to get a stable paper and be able to put the print in face side down.

I have some here and although I don't drymount prints anymore (I corner mount and hinge mount), I may be able to mount a piece of paper to the board for some testing. I'll have to see if I have any of that fusion mount tissue.

I bought a few sheets to fabricate my fume hoods with. Worked perfectly for that.

---Michael[/QUOTE]

[bob carnie]

Here is a question for all of you.

What Humidity level are you working at in your coating , exposing and processing areas???

Toronto is as dry as a fart over the winter so I can only get it to 40% but summer I can get it to 60%

[bob carnie]

Second Question for all of you

Are you doing a 10 % Potassium Metabisulphite final clear of your prints and if so are you seeing a difference??

I am doing this bath and seeing absolutely no difference…. If you read Stephen Livik or Christina Andersons advice on clearing bath magical things happen - for me nothing changes.

[bob carnie]

Michael

Btw I tried a hot mount over the weekend and the print popped right off the mount in the water - used the normal Dytac heat tissue for this.